Author Description

Unique Elements Detailed 20th Century Historical Timeline This timeless classic makes a fantastic gift to give… or add to your collection! Explore the wonders and magic of this unforgettable masterpiece and take an exhilarating step back in time! Synopsis: You Can't Win by hobo and burglar; Jack Black is an autobiography first published in 1926. It describes Black's life on the road, in prison, and his numerous criminal escapades. Most of the occurrences in the book take place from the late 1880s to roughly 1910 and describe Black's experiences in the hobo underworld while he was traveling by freight through the western United States and Canada. He explores the subjects of crime, criminal justice, vice, addictions, penology, and human foolishness from a variety of angles, from observer to consumer to supplier and from victim to perpetrator. He tells of being a thief, burglar, and member of the safe-cracking (yegg) subculture. Excerpt: ‘I am now librarian of the San Francisco Call. Do I look like one? I turn my chair so I can look in the mirror. I don’t see the face of a librarian. There is no smooth, high, white forehead. I do not see the calm, placid, composed countenance of the student. The forehead I see is high enough, but it is lined with furrows that look like knife scars. There are two vertical furrows between my eyes that make me appear to be wearing a continual scowl. My eyes are wide enough apart and not small, but they are hard, cold, calculating. They are blue, but of that shade of blue farthest removed from the violet. My nose is not long, not sharp. Nevertheless it is an inquisitive nose. My mouth is large—one corner of it is higher than the other and I appear to be continually sneering. I do not scowl, I do not sneer; yet there is something in my face that causes a man or woman to hesitate before asking to be directed to Dr. Gordon’s church. I can’t remember a time that any woman, young or old, ever stopped