Jack's Fans (6)

Jack Black

Author profile

born

January 01, 1871 in Canada

died

January 01, 1932

gender

male

genre

Biographies & Memoirs

About this author

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John Black was a late 19th century/early 20th century hobo and professional burglar, living out the dying age of the Wild West. 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 is also his statement of belief in the futility of prisons and the criminal justice system, hence the title of the book. Jack Black was writing from experience, having spent thirty years (fifteen of which were spent in various prisons) as a traveling criminal and offers tales of being a cross-country stick-up man, home burglar, petty thief, and opium fiend.

Jack Black is an essentially anonymous figure (ev...more John Black was a late 19th century/early 20th century hobo and professional burglar, living out the dying age of the Wild West. 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 is also his statement of belief in the futility of prisons and the criminal justice system, hence the title of the book. Jack Black was writing from experience, having spent thirty years (fifteen of which were spent in various prisons) as a traveling criminal and offers tales of being a cross-country stick-up man, home burglar, petty thief, and opium fiend.

Jack Black is an essentially anonymous figure (even his actual name is uncertain) who is recognized through association with William S. Burroughs. Although his philosophy on life was especially influential to Burroughs, who associated with similar characters in his early adulthood and mirrored the style of You Can't Win with his first published book, Junkie, Black's writings also had a profound effect on the writings and lives of all the Beat Generation.

After his last spell in prison Jack Black became friends with wealthy patron Fremont Older and worked for Older's newspaper The San Francisco Call. He worked on his autobiography with Rose Wilder Lane and eventually composed essays and lectured throughout the country on prison reform. He was also rumored to have received a stipend of $150 dollars a week to draft a screenplay titled Salt Chunk Mary with co-author Bessie Beatty, based around the infamous vagabond ally and fence of the same name in You Can't Win. The play flopped, although he was able to attain some amount of popularity, which subsided quickly. He is believed to have committed suicide in 1932 by drowning, as he reportedly told his friends that if life got too grim, he would row out into New York Harbor and, with weights tied to his feet, drop overboard. In You Can't Win Black describes this state of mind as being "ready for the river"(less)

combine editions
Books by Jack Black

Average rating: 4.41 · 1,010 ratings · 184 reviews · 21 distinct works

	You Can't Win by Jack Black, William S. Burroughs (Introduction) 4.40 avg rating — 906 ratings — published 1926 — 7 editions	My rating:
	Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2006	My rating:
	Mindstore 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:
	You Can't Win 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010	My rating:
	Yegg: Autoportrait D'un Honorable Hors La Loi ; Suivi De Qu'est Ce Qui Cloche Chez Les Honnêtes Gens ? 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2007	My rating:
	Du Kommst Nicht Durch by Jack Black, Axel Monte (Übersetzer), Thomas Stemmer (Übersetzer) 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1998	My rating:
	YOU CAN'T WIN, COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED 2.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Card Counting Guide To Winning Blackjack: Beat The Casinos At Blackjack 1.00 avg rating — 1 rating	My rating:
	Mindstore For Life: Complete Live Audio Course 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:
	Gold Prospectors Handbook 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1980 — 2 editions	My rating: