You Can't Win

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

Overview

Our lost history is revived in this legendary book, which was a bestseller in 1926 and has hovered at the edge of our memory ever since. The favorite book of William Burroughs, it is a journey into the hobo underworld, through freight hopping around the still-Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, and doing stints in jail or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges. The book includes an afterword by Michael Discend, who tells what became of Jack after the book was written (he gave up the outlaw life and moved to San Francisco).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936239658
Publisher:	Feral House
Publication date:	06/21/2013
Series:	Tramp Lit Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	528,988
File size:	3 MB

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.