You Can't Win

by Jack Black, Joe Coleman (Illustrator), William S. Burroughs (Foreword by)

Overview

You Can’t Win, the beloved memoir of real lowdown Americana by criminal hobo Jack Black, was first published in 1926, then reprinted in 1988 by Adam Parfrey’s Amok Press, featuring an introduction by William S. Burroughs.

After its Amok Press edition went out of print, You Can’t Win found popularity once again with the AK Press edition.

Feral House’s new version will take this classic American narrative a lot further, including two remarkable nonfiction articles by Jack Black written for Harper's Magazine in the 1920s. Remarkable illustrations by Joe Coleman and new biographical revelations by Donald Kennison will round out the new edition.

A full-length feature film of You Can’t Win starring Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Pitt is expected to be released in spring 2013.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936239610
Publisher:	Feral House
Publication date:	06/25/2013
Series:	Tramp Lit Series
Edition description:	Enlarged
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,038,579
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jack Black (1871-1932) was a hobo and professional burglar. Born in 1871 in New Westminster, British Columbia,[1] he was raised from infancy in the U.S. state of Missouri in the town of Maysville and eventually Kansas City. He wrote You Can't Win (Macmillan, 1926), a memoir or sketched autobiography describing his days on the road and life as an outlaw. Black's book was written as an anti-crime book urging criminals to go straight, but it is also his statement of belief in the futility of prisons and the criminal justice system, hence the title of the book.