Other editions of book The Blackboard Jungle

The “shocking” and “suspense-packed” bestseller about one teacher’s stand against student violence, and the basis for the Academy Award–nominated film (The New York Times Book Review). After serving his country in World War II, Richard Dadier decides to become an English teacher—and for the sin of wanting to make a difference, he’s hired at North Manual Trades High School. A tough vocational school in the East Bronx, Manual Trades is home to angry, unruly teenagers exiled from New York City’s regular public schools. On his first day, Dadier endures relentless mockery and ridicule and makes an enemy of the student body by rescuing a female colleague from a vicious attack. His fellow educators are bitter, disillusioned, and too afraid of their pupils to risk turning their backs on them in the classroom. But Dadier refuses to give up without a fight. Over the course of the semester, he tries again and again to break through the wall of hatred and scorn and win his students’ respect. The more he learns about their difficult circumstances, the more convinced he becomes that a good teacher can make a difference in their lives. His idealism will be put to the ultimate test, however, when a long-simmering power struggle with his most intimidating student explodes into a violent schoolroom showdown. The basis for the blockbuster film starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier, Evan Hunter’s The Blackboard Jungle is a brutal, unflinching look at the dark side of American education and an early masterpiece from the author who went on to write the gritty 87th Precinct series as Ed McBain. Drawn from Hunter’s own experiences as a New York City schoolteacher, it is a “nightmarish but authentic” drama that packs a knockout punch (Time).

The “shocking” and “suspense-packed” bestseller about one teacher’s stand against student violence, and the basis for the Academy Award–nominated film (The New York Times Book Review). After serving his country in World War II, Richard Dadier decides to become an English teacher—and for the sin of wanting to make a difference, he’s hired at North Manual Trades High School. A tough vocational school in the East Bronx, Manual Trades is home to angry, unruly teenagers exiled from New York City’s regular public schools. On his first day, Dadier endures relentless mockery and ridicule and makes an enemy of the student body by rescuing a female colleague from a vicious attack. His fellow educators are bitter, disillusioned, and too afraid of their pupils to risk turning their backs on them in the classroom. But Dadier refuses to give up without a fight. Over the course of the semester, he tries again and again to break through the wall of hatred and scorn and win his students’ respect. The more he learns about their difficult circumstances, the more convinced he becomes that a good teacher can make a difference in their lives. His idealism will be put to the ultimate test, however, when a long-simmering power struggle with his most intimidating student explodes into a violent schoolroom showdown. The basis for the blockbuster film starring Glenn Ford and Sidney Poitier, Evan Hunter’s The Blackboard Jungle is a brutal, unflinching look at the dark side of American education and an early masterpiece from the author who went on to write the gritty 87th Precinct series as Ed McBain. Drawn from Hunter’s own experiences as a New York City schoolteacher, it is a “nightmarish but authentic” drama that packs a knockout punch (Time).

The author of the book and the producer of the movie that followed it almost certainly did not intend the book would have the result it produced. It was intended as social commentary on the degeneration of today's youth and a warning to parents. They did not know and could not have known that the book and the movie that followed it would lead to a REVOLUTION in society and bring on the Era of Rock and Roll. It is widely agreed that the movie Blackboard Jungle staring Glenn Ford caused the Rock and Roll Revolution. Millions of kids watched this movie and they took up the life styles of the kids depicted in the movie. The dance scenes when the movie opens were brief, lasting only a few seconds, but soon all kids were dancing like that, lifting up their partners and twirling them in the air. Bill Haley did not invent Rock and Roll and his song Rock Around the Clock was not the first song in that style, but it was the song all the kids listened to and followed. Next came Elvis and the rest is history. The opening scene to Blackboard Jungle shows students dancing in the school yard to the sound of Rock Around the Clock. Although this dance sequence lasted only a few seconds, millions of kids watched it and they all started dancing this way. Traditional dances like Waltzes and Tangos were out. Now, everybody was rocking and rolling.

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.