Education of a Felon

by Edward Bunker

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In Education of a Felon, the reigning champion of prison novelists finally tells his own story. The son of an alcoholic stagehand father and a Busby Berkeley chorus girl, Bunker was--at seventeen--the youngest inmate ever in San Quentin. His hard-won experiences on L.A.'s meanest streets and in and out of prison gave him the material to write some of the grittiest and most affecting novels of our time. From smoking a joint in the gas chamber to leaving fingerprints on a knife connected to a show more serial kiler, from Hollywood's steamy undersde to swimming in the Neptune pool at San Simeon, Bunker delivers a memoir as colorful as any of his novels and as compelling as the life he's lead. show less

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Member Reviews

3 reviews
This was a fabulous book about a fabulous man. He was quite literally a genius and way above his years in mentality as a child, hence his super rebellious nature. As he puts it, he was dealt a bad hand, and the rest of his life he simply tried to make the best of it.

The book is a scathing look at the US penal (and judicial) system from someone who lived it a huge portion of his life. It also demonstrates just how much the system fails for those formerly convicted, who have done their time and paid the price, but then are disallowed from going back into society. You can't get a job with a record, you just can't. Minimum wage crap jobs is all that's open, and even those aren't always! It's a wretched situation.

Anyhow, aside of providing a show more look at the dismal situation of an American convict, we also, obviously, get a very good look the man writing about it all. And he's someone I wish I could have known. Incredibly intelligent, witty, bold, a bit rash, lots of fun... I'd, sadly, not heard of him before. But after learning all about him, and seeing how well he wrote while doing it, I am quite anxious now to go read his novels. show less
½
Un ottimo libro, da leggere assolutamente

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Author Information

Picture of author.
13+ Works 1,800 Members

Some Editions

Turchetti, Emanuela (Translator)

Awards and Honors

Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Education of a Felon
Original title
Education of a Felon: A Memoir
People/Characters
Edward Bunker; Louise Fazenda Wallis; Hal B. Wallis; William Randolph Hearst
Important places
Folsom State Prison, Folsom, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Quentin Prison, California, USA

Classifications

Genres
Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction
DDC/MDS
364.1092Society, Government, and CultureSocial problems and social servicesCrimeCriminal offenses
LCC
HV6248 .B7733 .A3Social sciencesSocial pathology. Social and public welfare. CriminologySocial pathology. Social and public welfare.CriminologyCriminal classes
BISAC

Statistics

Members
366
Popularity
85,509
Reviews
2
Rating
(3.94)
Languages
8 — Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
22
ASINs
4