Blackboard Jungle [Paperback]

Evan Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1976

Evan Hunter's novels have sold over one hundred million copies. His writing includes screenplays, literary novels, and children's books, but he is perhaps best known for his hugely successful 87th Precinct series, penned under the pseudonym Ed McBain.

The book that launched Hunter into a full-time writing career and onto the bestseller lists was his first major novel, The Blackboard Jungle. Written in 1954, this controversial story cracked down on the public school system and dramatized student violence as no other novel of its time did. Hunter used his own teaching experience to create protagonist Richard Dadier, who lands his first real job as an English teacher at North Manual Trades High School in New York City. Dadier knows the students here will be tough, but nothing has prepared him for the world he enters.

Hunter's popular and groundbreaking novel attracted much attention when it was first published, and it became a top bestseller in 1955. Set against the changing social culture of the 1950s, The Blackboard Jungle is a fascinating time capsule that brilliantly illuminates an issue still in the forefront of our minds.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The New York Times Book Review Shocking...arresting...His book seems to have been torn raw and bleeding out of his personal experience...Like The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath, this is a book which shouts that SOMETHING OUGHT TO BE DONE. -- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Ed McBain, a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award, was also the first American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. His books have sold more than one hundred million copies, ranging from the more than fifty titles in the 87th Precinct series (including the Edgar Award-nominated Money, Money, Money) to the bestselling novels written under his own name, Evan Hunter -- including The Blackboard Jungle (now in a 50th anniversary edition from Pocket Books) and Criminal Conversation. Fiddlers, his final 87th Precinct novel, was recently published in hardcover. Writing as both Ed McBain and Evan Hunter, he broke new ground with Candyland, a novel in two parts. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. He died in 2005.

Visit www.edmcbain.com. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (December 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380008599
• ISBN-13: 978-0380008599
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,452,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Most Impactful Piece of Literature, December 4, 1999

By 

zimbee (Las Vegas, Nevada, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blackboard Jungle (Classic Ed) : A Novel (Hardcover)

The first time I read the book, I had checked it out at my university's library. There were several different editions on display. I selected the one which had notes scribbled in the margins by a previous reader. Curious to find out what others thought of my favourite author, I read all the scribbles before I started the book. Whoever had it before me hated it! I cannot concieve why, since this is an excellent look into the struggles of a new teacher in a harsh environment. Hey, let's not forget that Mr. Hunter has an Oscar for the film based on the book! The major difference towards the end between the movie and the book sways me in favour of the book -- a must-read, to quote an old cliche.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read One, Read the Other, for an Educational Update!, September 17, 2002

By 

F. E. Mazur (Lexington, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blackboard Jungle (Classic Ed) : A Novel (Hardcover)

Published in 1954, Evan Hunter's novel is set in an urban vocational school of all boys. Today, almost fifty years later, it remains not just an excellent read, but also a worthwhile one-especially when it is read in conjunction with SPINE, a more contemporary novel of teachers struggling with students and the school system of an isolated rural town. In the latter work-a creation of this reviewer-the power and authority of the teacher in the classroom has been virtually eliminated (though seldom admitted), and no administrator would ever utter the words that Hunter's principal stresses to his faculty: "The teacher is boss, remember that!" Nor would those same administrators of today play the hardball of the JUNGLE's head man and insist on payment by parents for the destruction of school property by their sons and daughters. And how many modern-day parents are there who don't view the entire school as something they cannot entirely trust? Who may even regard it less a friend to their progeny and more an enemy? These and other contrasts are often starkly apparent if one reads both novels. Just as are other items that are the same today as they were midway through the previous century. In fact, one of these may even help to determine when teachers began to lose the authority of their position. Again, consider Hunter's school principal. When a student levels a charge at his English teacher, the story's protagonist, principal Small accuses his employee Rick Dadier of being a racial bigot, and he does so without first listening to the other side of the incident. Read one, read the other. Gain a little more insight about the world of education.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Jungle in the City, September 5, 2001

By 

Kent Braithwaite (Palm Desert, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blackboard Jungle (Classic Ed) : A Novel (Hardcover)

As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release and a teacher with over twenty years of experience in an impoverished high school, I found Evan Hunter's THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE fascinating. Ed McBain, the celebrated mystery writer, was a teacher back when he wrote this book. Evan Hunter is, as we all know, Ed McBain's actual name. I suspect he based his Richard Dadier character on his own experiences. Dadier is an idealistic young man with his first professional job as an English teacher in a working class high school. Dadier does his best to reach his students, yet the challenges are great. This book is a classic, and it still applies to teaching these days. I truly wish Evan Hunter would return to THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE. America needs its best and its brightest in our classrooms. As I can attest to from my experience, one can teach students and write mysteries without sacrificing either career.