Rage by Stephen King | The Book You're Not Supposed to Read
Subscribe to my Substack for free weekly updates on the behind-the-scenes of The Selador!
selador.substack.com/?r=g86pk...
--------------------------------------------------------------
In 1977 Stephen King released his first book under the psuedonym "Richard Bachman" by the name of Rage. At what was first released and forgotten about by the majority of the reading community, the book would later come to be connected with multiple shootings propping up around America between the late 80s and 90s, leading King to pull the book off of the shelves until present day.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Music Provided by: • ( No Copyright ) Coffe...
Music provided by TheRelaxedMovement.
Check it out here: / therelaxedmovement
--------------------------------------------------------------
Furhter Reading:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_(K...)
2. daretobebetternow.files.wordp...
3. • The book so disturbing...
4. www.theguardian.com/books/201...
5. www.mentalfloss.com/article/6...
5. www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...
10mh.net/2020/01/14/rage-rich...
6. thetaoofscreenwriting.quora.c...
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction (0:00)
2. The Birth of Richard Bachman (1:34)
3. The Story of Rage (3:37)
4. The Impact of Rage (7:49)
5. The Death of Richard Bachman (11:22)
--------------------------------------------------------------
All criticism and comments are welcome. Thanks for watching.
Subscribe to my Substack for free weekly updates on the behind-the-scenes of The Selador! selador.substack.com/?r=g86pk&
this is not a criticism of you or the video which is quite good, but it uses news reports as sources so errors that are not of your making get passed along. i know the name appears in many of the news reports from the time as dustin l pierce for some reason but his name was dustin c pierce. nor did he read or own the book rage until long after the incident. and king did notice before the late 90s as he was on tv immediately after the 89 incident saying it wasnt the books fault, that the person was obviously crazy before they read it. he as definitely aware. personally i disagree with his decision to pull the book as it presented an opportunity to have an ongoing conversation about the issues that drew ppl to it and why. the part where he seems to blame not the shooters but the parents, abuse and neglect, family situations of which he has no real knowledge, i totally disagree with that. none of those things pull a trigger, the shooters themselves make a conscious decision to do that. thats how i see it anyway
kzhead.info/sun/Y5ide5WvjnaEdIU/bejne.html
Could you please explain what you mean at the 11:50 mark? It's the most important part of the story and I just don't understand?
After the Virginia Tech shooting, we were assigned Rage as a class reading. We stopped mid-Shakespeare unit and read the whole book in one week. Our only assignment was to discuss our feelings about the book and to talk openly about being sophomores. It was the poorly received by the parents but the stories my classmates told during that unit will stay with me forever. It’s one of the reasons I became a teacher.
Social Emotional Learning...
Thank you for being a teacher 🙂
thats an amazing way to cope. whatever teacher did that is great. Facing the tragedy instead of pushing it down. Now each and every student knows that we're all humans, with the same pains. If anyone was thinking of shooting up schools after that lesson, maybe they'd changed their minds.
@@thebinlgbtisbabadook7832 Seriously, teachers like this are the most undersung heroes of all time.
@Repent and believe in Jesus Christ Great, another bot. I don’t wanna offend anybody that is christian, but this is obviously a bot, what even is the damn purpose?
Fun fact: King would use the incident of being discovered as Bachman as an inspiration for his novel, The Dark Half (1989)
Oh, man. That story 😱
We need a remake of the Dark Half
This may be a silly question, but why did he keep showing photos of, John E Mack, each time he mentioned Bachman? Was Mack involved in some way?
lol. Hi Dan. I went scrolling for your comment just because he didn't mention it in the video. ;)
@@KristiContemplates liked the dark half did ya?.
As a librarian I can say you’re absolutely correct. Censorship only leads to interest, often times in materials that had little to no interest from younger people in the first place.
Too true, if the BBFC hadn't created the video nasties list in the 80's a great deal of those films would be long forgotten instead of the rights of passage they're seen as these days.
The problem with censorship is the same with the death penalty. If you're gonna do it, DO it. China has no problem with censorship cuz they go all the way with it, Singapore with the death penalty. But half measures are no bueno
@@user-io6eq9gt6wwhat a stupid take
It's called the Streisand Effect. Trying to hide something only ends up with it becoming more public and popular.
IMMA SAY THE NWORD
When I was an edgy teenager filled with my own angst and rage, I found the Bachman Books collection, which included Rage at the time. It helped me get in touch with my anger and frustration and actually get over it, so I've never understood King's decision. I get he didn't want to inspire more teenage violence, but Rage did the exact opposite in my case and I assume many others.
That’s the thing, it inspires someone who self-reflects to work through it, but many young people don’t have this ability and end up glorifying the anger and violence. In the hands of the common man something meant to highlight and condemn violent may instead inspire it. It just goes to show you can’t count on people to always “get it.”
@@actuallyimnotreallysureyet6360 great point. another good example of this is Sopranos fandom. 90% of them glorify the regressive attitudes and violence as positive examples of machismo, completely missing the point of the show.
Think of it like children who are abused: Some grow up to be abusers themselves and others come out of it determined to never be like their abusers. Reading this book pushed you in one direction, but it's not a guarantee that it wouldn't push some people in another one. I can understand why King decided to take it off the market because there were a few too many people who were the later and it was bothering him that he may have been the catalyst for their shooting sprees.
if he let the book go up then there would be more school shootings
@@actuallyimnotreallysureyet6360 That reminds me what happened with Lolita. A story with an unreliable narrator who preys on a child is romanticized. There are people who hate having a story or meaning spelled out for them (and for good reason) but in some cases I can see why. There is always that one person who sees the opposite.
It's like blaming somebody who murders their wife and son on "it's because he read The Shining." Not to mention the prom scene in Carrie is similar to a school shooting. Blaming events on fictional media like books, movies, or video games is ridiculous.
The Columbine one if I recall correctly, and I do agree, blaming events on fictional works is just downright ridiculous. I was glad King banned Rage, in all honestly, but not for his reasons.
Before I say anything else, I have to say: Fiction does not exist in a vacuum. Second, he didn't pull Rage because it caused these things but that it was as he put it, an accelerant. His issue wasn't the content, but the impact it was clearly producing at the time.
@@rayadawn3535 I agree, even the most fictitious of works have at least some realism to them, and this is something especially scary in works by authors such as Stephen King and Shirley Jackson. I am aware why Stephen King banned the novella, but I am thankful it was banned given the disturbing content. This novella may not disturb everyone, it does not with me exactly, but some things in this story are downright disturbing and not for just anyone to read even young adults. I read Christine in high school and that was fine, but I am thankful I did not read this or the Jaunt, they would have terrified me.
@@rayadawn3535 If Rage can be an accelerant for a school shooting, we would also see The Shining as an acclerant for a man murdering his wife and child. It's ridiculous. Nobody is doing something because it was in a fiction novel, video game, or movie. Yes, it's true that fiction and real life are not separate, they are connected. However, it is fiction that is influenced by real life, not the other way around. A great example is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre being inspired by Ed Gein. It was not the other way around: Ed Gein was not inspired by a fictional story. Nobody did a school shooting because of Rage, and no, it did not accelerate any school shootings either. Any of those school shootings would have happened, whether or not they read Rage. It doesn't change anything.
@@brandoncolis3841 Well, yeah, the whole point of their stories is that it's supposed to be scary. What is the point of the horror genre if isn't horrifying? And for young adults, well, it is the job of the parents for what content young adults consume. Just as how we don't ban any movies or video games because they aren't appropriate for young adults, teenagers, children, etc. They get a certain rating, and it is entirely the responsibility of the parents to monitor this. Of course, most of the parents seem to be useless at doing this, but that's not the fictional media's fault.
“They found something in my book that spoke to them because they were already broken.” That’s some powerful shit right there and massive kudos to King for pulling it from the shelves.
Pretty much how it works for the disturbed...they can latch onto any obscure logic to justify their actions...
@@gumbypokey the seed is already planted, all the seed is given is some water, and it eventually grows into a twisted plant that bears carcinogenic fruit
Nah, I'm not down with pulling a book because psychos might be inspired by them. The problem isn't a book or guns. Mental health is the problem and every time some nut brings our mental health crisis to the forefront we blame entertainment or guns instead of face and attempt to solve the mental health crisis. Guns don't make mass shooters, serious untreated mental illness does.
Makes me wonder why King knows about such things.
@@recoveringsoul755 My guess is research. I mean, unless you're implying that he also personally enjoys dismembering people in gruesome ways, using psyonics, or dimension hopping. He's an author, bro, not a school shooter.
The way Stephan King handled Richard’s death was so bad ass for anyone who is a celebrity. He not only gave the fan an interview but allowed that fan to publish a story of how he ousted one of his favorite writers. Stephen King is the GOAT
And then he wrote a book about killing him.
@@owlsayssouththat's the coke for ya
Fr that was so nice of him lol
I find it hilarious that King questioned if people were following the hype or was he writing good stories. Madness, he's one of the most entertaining authors of all time.
he’s a great example of imposter syndrome
AKA as an Ass Hat.@@misseselise3864
Goosebumps>
*used to be.
@@jakebocek2949 Hes still alive
This makes me wonder, how many school shootings did Rage prevent? As in, how many boys who might have become Charlie Decker instead read the book, felt understood, and it was enough to live out their violent fantasy vicariously?
That’s really interesting tbh
@@indiasworld18 Thanks! I am often interesting tbh. ;)
Hopefully enough to spread some encouragement to find outlets instead of shooting others and then yourself to hide from your own consequences. I say this because one of my best friends and I ended up on a 400-person kill list which was halfway crossed by the morning and the person was tackled at the end of the day with the rifle in the main gym trash can. Everyone on that list were disabled and gay at some levels with the men being rape victims to the female administrators and their girlfriends who regardless didn't make it to 2020 graduation. So..
It's one of those things that can go either way. It's kinda the way I feel about incels who commit these mass shootings and prostitution. If sex is one of the reasons they do these things then why not allow legal prostitution so these men can get what they are missing if it seems to be a catalyst to their violence. Whether morally right is not my position but I'd rather them get a pro than kill people. Nobody really loses in that scenario. I think though with some people that they are gonna be violent and nothing can change it.
@@dontdiscriminatehateeveryo9263 Someone who decides to kill people because they don't get laid is definitely someone who abuses prostitutes. They need therapy, not sexy times.
King said he stopped Rage from being published by itself after a few close calls were found with his book in their locker. It certainly begs the question of what an artist owes to society, and if society can blame artistic works for inspiration. I personally think King was very magnanimous to remove a book he had the right to make money off of, but that he didn't necessarily have to.
If there was a Poe’s Law for school shooters, _Rage_ would unfortunately be a prime example. Some subjects just become taboo because bad people with poor media literacy latch on to the art which discusses it, no matter how the subject is presented.
Artists owe nothing to society and can't be blamed if some psychopath uses their creation as a catalyst towards violence. The Beatles should be blamed for Mansons obsession with The White Album? If J.D. Salinger never wrote Catcher then so many murders never would have happened? This shit is expected from violent, destructive, self-destructive, self-centered animals such as we are. Our art is nice and all but we create it to please ourselves. At the heart of the matter we're a warlike species.
Edit: please stop replying to me, I don’t care, this comment is months old @@proto-geek248 this is a very individualistic take. Not everyone subscribes to this take, not even entire countries. You should probably put in some sort of modifier about it being your opinion or your ideal if you’re going to write so decisively.
@@vysharra Take it or leave it. I don't ascribe to the norm. I think for myself. I don't allow politics, religion, the internet or television to think for me.
@@proto-geek248 you’re literally telling other people how to think
I read Rage back when King wrote it as Bachmann. Great book, ahead of it's time. I was reading King when I was 12, now as an adult in my mid 40's, I find it ironic my parents let me read his books, but wouldn't let me watch rated R movies.
Did you go on rampage?
Haha, looks like they joined the Marines instead. “Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children…”
King went on a rampage wearing his pride clothes and yelled at cars as they passed by.
In my opinion Mr King is brilliant. His way of describing things and his imagination is phenomenal.
He's a pedo who usually describes under age girls in graphic detail
I'd say King is a talented writer (a terrible human but the two aren't mutually exclusive) who has benefited from some editors who were truly brilliant. Any unabridged edition of a King book is a slog.
@@1retiredknight Abridged versions can be too. I gave up on IT 300 pages in because he'd just go on about useless shit. Salem's Lot is the only book of his I've started and finished
well thats disappointing considering i just bought the book lmao@@RecentCobra
@@hellelmaoit is fantastic
I've been a King fan since 1985, reading Salem's Lot for the first time when I was 13 years old. It was a few years later when I received a copy of the compilation "The Bachman Books", thus being introduced to King's work under his pseudonym. It included the story "Rage", and I was often struck by the idea that the story wasn't about what it was about. The extreme situation depicted, of violence and hostage-taking, was merely a convenient plot contrivance to explore teen angst in large, and how the pressures and absurdities at such a time in one's life can make even the most stable among us feel as if we're going insane. It's easy to see (particularly as I, too, read "Rage" during that time in my life) how the story resonated with extremely damaged psyches.
King himself described it as "Painfully Freudian" in the introduction to The Bachman Books.
1980 and it was Firestarter for me. 13 as well.
I was a big fan of teh Bachman stories. The Long Walk and Word Processor of the Gods were really impactful...
@@Stabby666 Word Processor of the Gods wasn't a Bachman story. It was originally published under King's own name in the January 1983 issue of Playboy.
@@teabearchurchill5600 Ah right yeah. It's been a long time...
I remember finding the Bachman books at a used bookstore back when I was a sophomore. I had to admit that I loved the story of Rage. I even did book report and presentation on it in class. My teacher was shook for sure and let me know that book was actually banned years ago.
I think I would have done the same thing just to freak the teacher out or at least think about it.
@@tom5256 I’ve done that a few times lol
my easily neurotic brain probably would have panicked in your position lmfao
Your teacher had to let you know it was banned?? Must've been an extremely shitty book report if you didn't find that out
@@maddogkilla1 Most book reports are done with content in the book only.
Stephan King donated $24,000 to our household when my husband had cancer. It’s a grant for established musicians who fall on tragic or debilitating health issues. I was able to quit gigging for two years to take care of him, and now he has been cancer-free for 8 years!
I can remember sitting in a classroom during a shooting drill in elementary school. We turned off the lights and closed the blinds. And I remember thinking in my child brain rather matter of factly how the bad guys would think that it’s a holiday or the school was closed and that’s why no one’s there. Even at a young age the situation was so normalized. I’ve read some novels about school shootings but I hadn’t really heard of stuff written before it became as culturally relevant.
If you check the actual numbers of incidents, the cultural relevance was driven more by the creation of the 24 hour news cycle than anything else.
@@capablanc That number is completely false. It is based on a propaganda piece from The Washington Post. The examples of what they counted as "school shootings' included negligent weapon discharges where no one was injured, and shootings of single individuals that occurred near school, not in a school.
As a non-American, this post is an INSANE THING to read. It’s INSANE that you guys have “ACTIVE SHOOTER DRILL” as early as Elementary School. I hope you guys know that this is not normal.
Ironically I actually read this book in math class during high school after borrowing it from a friend. I started high school 2 years after Columbine so the story hit a bit different at the time, especially because 9/11 had also recently occured. The lesson I took back then was that everyone is screwed up and only once we all realize it, admit it and work throught it, can we really move on. That maintaining the status quo for the sake of appearances holds back many of us from healing and it is up to us to change that status quo into one that focuses on healing.
So you don't know the difference between being screwed up and a changed person?
@@Marco-717 It doesn't matter in this context, at the end of the day if you're suffering, You need to seek help, end of story.
This is a very good take.
Very few times am I moved by a well written comment. Very insightful, thank you.
I've never read this book but your analysis makes me want to read it, having just realized in life the lesson you're talking about.
What shocked me more was the original ending of The Running Man, another Bachman book far superior to the terrible film. The final scene was a plane being flown into a skyscraper in a dystopian version of NYC. The book came out decades before 9/11. I think King always had an eerie feel for zeitgeist and much of his work overlapped with real life events.
the FBI was probably inspired by the book when they decided to plan the attack
Oh boy, another one of the "They predicted everything!!!" bots. I bet you lose your mind riding public transport because the system tells you where you'll end up before you get there
@@tylerlackey1175 the fuck are you on about
@@tylerlackey1175 dude I dont even necessarily agree with the OP's post but....why do you gotta be such a little douchebag? You are not smart for saying it.. You are not funny for saying it. So what's the goal? To make this dude feel a little bad/embarrassed? That really tells more about you than it does him.
@@tylerlackey1175 seethe
Wow! That's quite a video. As a former K-6th grade teacher I could often see the Rage in boys in my classes. Father's gone and/or in prison, abuse by mother & father, neglect by family, or parents who refused to be parents, but tried to be their child friends and allowing their child to do anything with little or no consequences. I've seen and tried to redirect that Rage in students. Most of the time, boys, but in girls too.
With the amazing judgement I had as a 21 year old junior in college, I chose this short story to adapt to a screenplay for my screenwriting class (this was 1998-ish - luckily before Columbine!). My professor and I had different tastes. I was all about "Go" at the time. He was more of an "The English Patient" type guy. I had just gotten in to Bachman (after reading The Running Man because I loved the movie as a kid) and really loved all of it, but especially how sick and twisted Rage was. That was all the reason I needed to choose it for the assignment. I got a D. He told me that there was no way this was really a book lol. I begged him and swore up and down that I basically copied the plot - like I was worried he'd think I didn't change it ENOUGH. haha. In the end I actually had to bring him my paperback so he could see it was a real book. He upped my grade to a C but he looked at me differently from then on and never did seem to care for any of my work. I am not a screenwriter.
Oof.
"Go" is a highly underappreciated film.
As Oscar Wilde once said, “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” This is why horror is such an important genre for people to read in general. It forces people to confront and reflect on dark subject matter so that they may learn and grow from them. Many of the darkest stories of all time from the works of Stephen King to manga like Berserk have helped me mature and grow in many positive ways.
Brilliant
Thank you for the quote 👍
Well Berserk's back for you friend 🤝
@@gauravtomer1031 I heard!! (:
Well said, my friend 👏.
The Long Walk by "Richard Bachman" is one of the most haunting books I've ever read. I think he wrote it when he was 18.
Which is just.. amazing to me. That story is def top 3
I've read most of his work considering I'm a massive Dark Tower fan, and everything ties into it (everything serves the beam). The Long Walk is and always will forever be one of my all time favorites by him and I would highly suggest it to everyone. Haunting, indeed.
I just thought it was really cool. It didn't haunt me in any way.
@E Worse that the other one?
One of the best😅
The Long Walk is in the top three books of my life - incredible concept and riveting story woven around such a seemingly simple idea. I have The Bachman Books in my bookcase, originally published in the late 80s, and contains Rage. Even when my life was in upheaval and I had to off load a lot of personal possessions, I held onto this book as the stories within indelibly shaped my formative years. Stephen King is masterful and I feel like I have had the blessing of a personal story weaver through my life so far with his writing talent spanning decades. He IS the King.
Great Book.
It’s kind of tragic that these guys actually read a book and re-enacted the plot, but it’s truly evil considering most people, even broken ones, read it and don’t do what they did.
I remember reading a couple Richard Bachman books and thinking... damn..this guy stole Stephen King's writing style... and I didn't care for him for that reason. I read them again once we all found out that Bachman was, in fact, Stephen King. I enjoyed your presentation.... so i subscribed. Thank you.
Now that's hilarious, did you like them better the second time?
I read "The Long Walk" penned under the name Richard Bachman. I really liked the short story, and I also remember thinking, "This Bachman guy is dark and twisted, alot like Stephen King."
@@lgarner18436572 You can change a name. But you can't just change your writing style.
His style is the best. But he took alot of inspiration from Ray Bradbury.
So ur a follower lmao
“Novelist Richard Bachman died of exposure earlier this year. And I helped kill him” is the hardest opening line to an article I’ve ever seen. Also, just for the record, I just subscribed at 4.52k subscribers. I’m shocked that your channel has such a small number but I KNOW it’ll blow up. Keep up the amazing work!
Hopefully the algorithm is finally noticing this channel
It’s 5.4k now!
almost 7k!
Over 7k now! Wack
Has to be one of the best puns I've ever seen
Very well made video. I was suggested it in my recommendation list. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your videos!
Absolutely love rage, read it way to young and used to freak my friends out takin about some of the more detailed scenes, to this day I credit Rage and King himself for inspiring if not most then some of my charecters
I didn't initially like the idea of King taking the book off the shelf, but once I found out the plot, I completely understood. This was a story that needed to be told at that time, but in the current world, it's like hearing a broken record.
I think it’s a book that shines on the continued problem of domestic and child abuse that plagues us to this day. Parents are more concerned about mask mandates than preventing school shootings.
@@pada443 public health and school shootings aren’t political but okay. 🙃
@abberyyang In the U.S., masks, vaccines, abortions, contraception, sex ed, what bathroom you can use, and every detail of U.S. healthcare and public health services have been politicized right down the party line. School shootings have also been politicized because they have become part of the gun debate, among other things.
@abberyyang You just got dunked on.
@Pa Da lol you got ratioed
I used to own this book (The Bachman Books). I remember reading Rage, but The Long Walk is still one of my all-time favourite Stephen King stories
Stephen King, V.C. Andrew's and Anne Rice were the most readily available non-kid books in my house. I read the Bachman books anthology in 5th grade. I didn't know this was odd until after reading Cujo and Carrie as well and looking for his books in my school library. After flipping through the stacks I asked the librarian for help. Were they out on a display shelf, I looked myself? I will never forget, she said a young girl like me should not read those books! And then gave me such a disgusted hauty look. I was thoroughly confused. I thought everyone read them, I guess fantasy or books about horses were supposed to be dereguer for a 10 year old. Who knew! Luckily my Aunt Noreen was also King collector and invited me to borrow anything, anytime. It ages me I'm sure, but to the defense of all involved- 'Young Adult' didn't really exist in the late 80's even at the larger local public library. The Longest Walk is one of my favorites too. Haven't kept up with King's output as regularly recently. But I have this super-curious, intensely motivated 10 year old reader of my own now. If she so chooses to read his work one day, she inherits his and all the rest of my lifetime library. Books allow children to ask big questions and think deeply. I won't restrict her.
The Long Walk is an amazing story. Horror at its best.
Rage had almost no lasting impact on me. I haven't read The Long Walk in 30 years and yet I can recall the story in great detail.
Agreed!
That one has stuck with me since I read it when I was thirteen. Rage was good, but the Long Walk is a short masterpiece.
I read it and its a fantastic story. Brutally honest and it asks all the right questions.
One of the best books I ever read, left me contemplating it and feeling quite disturbed for along time afterwards. A great study of modern teenage angst. Should go down in history with the works of like as in “ Catcher in the Rye “.
In 2000 I read a battered copy of the Bachman Books that was (for some reason) in my English teacher’s classroom library. Every story blew my mind, but Rage chilled me and riveted me. Columbine was still fresh in everyone’s minds, and as school shootings continue, I think of how far fetched the story is now. Reality is now much more horrifying.
Continue in the US* keep in mind it’s an exclusively american problem
@@luk4aaaa yeah. the us is so fucked up
I also found a battered copy in my English teachers class in 7th grade and instantly devoured it.
I grew up having shooter drills since childhood. Barricading yourself into a room in elementary school and having real cops come to try and break down our barricades to test their efficiency against someone trying to get in. This has always been part of my life.
@@Magicwithizz that sounds dystopian.
I'm from 30 minutes across the river north of Heath, Kentucky, and the moment you said Michael Carneal, the hairs on my neck stood up. A classmate of mine went to regional church events with a kid killed in that shooting, which happened when I was in junior high. That shooting was our mini-Columbine before the actual one. We were never the same after that.
Rage was one of the first books I read from King. I loved every bit of it
this was such a beautiful video. thank you for the efoort and great content
I'm a psychology professor in the US -- in my personality theory course, I read a passage from one of the flashback scenes in Rage -- along with Genesis 40:17-31 -- as part of my introduction to Freud. "...So I knew. I went to sleep, but I knew. The Creaking Thing was my father."
Ah, so Twin Peaks......Fire Walk with Me..
I read Thinner and there's a line of dialogue that goes: "You were starting to sound a little like a Stephen King novel for a while there.” And that's always gonna be the funniest shit I've ever heard in a secret Stephen King book.. (I read it recently, knowing it was Stephen King)
There are a number of internal references, especially self-deprecating ones, in King's work. Like in The Tommyknockers, someone compliments the main character ( a writer of westerns) on her latest book, and says she's glad she doesn't write "like that fella up to Bangor... books fulla sex and dirty talk" I also can't recall the specific book, but one of King's narrators mentions "Some smartass wrote about the banality of evil"... which was King himself in his book 'Salem's Lot. Those are two of the best, but there are others.
@@teabearchurchill5600 He seems to have a pretty good sense of humor about himself xD
@@Nightswarmer Undoubtedly. Reminds me if my late uncle that way.
King puts a lot of references to himself in his books. The ones I've read come across very Aren't I wonderful for being mildly self-deprecating!
I’m super proud to say that I’ve got a mint condition copy of “The Bachman Books”. It starts with Rage. I got it for $4 at my local thrift store. I don’t even want to risk opening it to read it, because I don’t want to dirty/crease the pages. It literally looks like nobody has even opened it before. It’s in better shape than any others pictured online. It’s a first edition hardcover too.
I have read the book while in high school, I had very similar feelings while going thru a difficult time. It gave me some prespective. Lucky my life changed for the better
RAGE is such a great book! Most of Kings work under Bachman is. There are a pair of sister books written before Bachman "died" King wrote Desperation and Bachman wrote Regulators. These Two books are a must have.
I loved those books, and I found them a really interesting demonstration of King's writing philosophy. The "same story" written by "two different people" put out two wildly different books.
It sucks
@@Chi-Drumming you probably don't even know how to read. Lmao
@@Chi-Drumming okay now go cry
@@elliot__agares I'm good.
I always loved the fact thatephen King said Richard Bachman died of cancer of the psydonymn. Also that later he definately used elements of being Richard Bachman in 'The Dark Half'.
Didnt he say Richard Bachman died of exposure?
@@julietbutnotjuliet5919 True, but in at least one of his books, he said Bachman died of cancer of the pseudonym.
The Dark Half was one of those books that stuck with me in a disturbing way for a long time. It gave me the shivers.
Once I read just about everything Stephen King published I was hungry for more of those type of stories. I liked his imagination and the way when reading one of his books you could actually picture everything he described in your mind, not many books or authors were able to do this for me. Then someone gave me this book of four stories written by Richard Bachman, I believe it was called "The Four Seasons" or something like that but it had "Rage, Roadwork, The Long walk" & another story that I don't remember the name. Those stories were different but just as good. Don't get me wrong not all of his stories were great or worth reading, in fact there were some that were not worth reading but he wrote so many stories that the chances of you reading a bad one were very far & in between. Another book of a gang of short stories was "Skeleton Key" and this was a book that I could not put down from the first story "The Mist" until I read them all. If you don't like his type of story telling that's ok but if you are curious about his imagination & story telling then you will not be disappointed, I can promise you that much !
I read this books and finished it in 2 days just because I saw this video's thumbnail. And it was actually a nice book. Very easy to read and to understand the characters
This is very well done, looked at the subscriber count and was shocked! Feels very professional, sure you’ll definitely rack in the numbers soon. Great work!
Thanks man, I appreciate the kind words.
Had the same reaction coming across this video, great work! Subbed👍
Had the exact same reaction! This was great and I'm subscribed!
He's reading us pieces of what looks unashamedly like Wikipedia screenshots. I'll mention he doesn't even read some dates correctly either. He doesn't do it the entire video but I hope he used a good variety of sources
@@TheSelador -Why did you keep showing photos of, John E Mack, each time you mentioned Bachman? Was Mack involved in some way?
It's strange. Clear back in middle school (7th grade, most of my life ago now), I was 3 years into my enjoyment of Stephen's books, and one of my teachers let me borrow her copy of The Bachman Books:- it changed me in a small, quiet, but noticeable way. Something about Rage's protagonist and The Long Walk's cast both being the age I would soon become made me feel... sort of like an anti-Decker? Knowing I wanted to take steps to be different from the people who hurt and killed and died, while still owning how cast-out I felt. I think the ripples from that did me a lot of good.
The Long walk to this day one of my favorites.
Somehow ended up writing a 10 page paper in college about The Long Walk. It's not terribly long, but at the time, it was the longest book I had read in one sitting. Couldn't put it down. It was also one of the easiest papers I had ever had to write too. I can't remember what I wrote the paper on, but I do remember the book sticking with me for about a week afterwards. The Dark Tower series not withstanding, his books have a way of sticking around in your head for a few days or more. Every once in a while I'll tap into my King collection when I need to mix it up from what I'm reading at the time and remember how addicting they are. It can start off slowish sometimes, but all of a sudden you can't put it down, it's 5am on a work day and you just read more than half of The Green Mile in one sitting, not quite sure what to do with your life anymore haha.
@@Pyromanemac Dude, I read pretty much all his short story collections like 20+ years ago and out of no where some of them will pop up in my head, lol. It's nuts. I also read "The Long Walk" in one sitting as well. I've actually been thinking about buying all his collections and re-reading all of them. Will probably be doing it soon.
@@robmen1402 so so good
@@robmen1402 really? I read it a few years ago after being on a Stephen King book binge and I thought it kinda sucked.
I've read it many times and I own the book. I love it, it's one of my favorites by King.
I read RAGE when I was a teenager in the 1980s. It was riveting.
About 20 years ago, I found a copy of an anthology of Bachman books at goodwill. Rage was included, and I read it. The book fell apart, and I lost it years ago. I didn't even know the book had been pulled off of shelves. It was a disturbing story. I am about the age of the Columbine shooters, and I read it only a few years after that tragedy.
I hate that people are still so ignorant that they think that destroying literature is going to stop some madman from acting out. Clearly pulling the book hasn't stopped the numerous mass shootings across America and over the years it's only increased.
I didn't know there was an anthology of those books with Rage included. I was able to look up and buy an old copy of it, as I've read King's books for years but have not been able to find a copy of Rage for less than $50. I am looking forward to finally fulfilling my curiosity on this book. Thanks!
I read Rage when I was a teenager, along with Walk. Both affected me in major ways, especially Walk. This was in the mid 80’s, before we had shooting after shooting after shooting. It wasn’t unthinkable, but it wasn’t something we were really afraid of. That definitely changed for me after reading Rage. I thought Walk was worse in terms of senseless death. I don’t know if King was right in pulling Rage.
The Long Walk had a profound affect on me and is one story that will randomly pop into my head sometimes.
Yes, same! I had no idea those two stories would stick with me like they have.
for me 1984 was the book that changed my perspective in almost everything, made me a Libertarian "extremist"
Strange that we were discussing The Long Walk just last night and how it would've been an excellent movie. I likened it to Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, both of them effecting me deeply for the characters plight.
@@kimberlyhood4095 It is like ‘The Lottery.’ Never thought about that before.
That leading penned line is a masterclass.
I love all of The Bachman books! Especially "Rage" and "The Long Walk"
when i found rage on a secondhand site three years ago i bought it right away. i knew the lore behind it and desperately wanted to read it. even the act of reading it made me feel secretive. only one other book made me feel this kind of disgusted and incredibly sad (out natsuo kirino) it really is an impactful read
i really loved out by natsuo kirino, so for rage to be compared to it it makes me want to read rage now
OH MY GOD IM A HUGE NATSUO KIRINO FAN... did you by any chance read grotesque or real world?
Is there any chance that I can borrow the book ;-;
@@karinajuarezc Try Library Genesis.
Oyasumi punpun
It's really odd how everyone seems to think relating to a killer in anyway makes you evil. It doesn't. Everyone has issues, everyone is similar in some way. You don't have to constantly talk about how something is bad in order to understand that it is. I also completely disagree with the assertion that a work of fiction can cause someone to do wrong. Fiction doesn't cause someone to do wrong, but it can be used as an excuse.
If you make an excuse out of something that's totally on you, not the thing.
Over saturation of violent content can effect you
@@basedbane787 Sure, but are you gonna react this way or that? That's totally on you. Most normal people stop when they feel negative impact. Fools continue. And that's on them.
@@chickenlover657 enough of the wrong media can make you stop being normal. I'm not saying gta causes crime but people that watch horror movies 12 hours a day go insane
@@basedbane787 Did you ever ask yourself why people do that, I mean the people who do that? Because that's what attracts them. Eventually they make an excuse out of it if and when they do dumb shit. But it's on them. There's an off button for everything. It's YOUR choice not to use it.
In the end, talent is part of the person behind the name. No matter how many pen names or persona, the man behind the books is still one & this man will be the one responsible for what he wrote. This is interesting, thank you for reviewing this!
On the section "the impact of rage" where you started naming off incidents of school shooters. I heard my home towns name and it sent a chill down my spine. My father had talked about it quite a bit but I never knew this book was somewhat connected to the shooter
I finally read both Catcher in the Rye and Rage a years ago. They are supposed to be "comparative ". But Rage said it so much better. Although I respect the fact he chose to take it off the market for his peace of mind.
It didn't do any good, it's simply giving a little more of our freedoms away. I think removing literature, music, even movies will never help a society that won't confront mental illiness, we will always have people that "Rage." How many more Columbines have we had over the passed 20 something years?
@@kimberlyhood4095 well until the nation starts to address this mental health problem, then the books need to be taken off shelves or out of classrooms. Like King said, no need to set someone off or the book act as a catalyst who is already broken.
@@maddogkilla1 so punish all for a few, that's so illogical and definitely rings of communism. Take everything away then only dole out to who the government finds fit to have it.
@@maddogkilla1 it's not a mental health problem, though. school shootings are not a mental health problem.
@@maddogkilla1 okay, do you think we should ban cleaning products because children get under the cabinet and drink them?
It's not even a book about school shootings. It's just a plot device to make a bunch of teens talk about their problems. If written by a less "dark" author, it would have been "The Breakfast Club".
Calm down edge lord
@@mikestevens1801 calm down child
Agreeing with you, but clarifying the agreement because... In fact, Brian ("The Brain"/nerd) received detention in "The Breakfast Club" for taking a "gun" to school. In actuality it was "only" a flare-gun or something to that effect, which went-off while inside his locker. Which isn't to make light of the situation...but does mark the plot-device of "school shooting" as a horror/thriller genre-specific aspect as opposed to the more "Teen Comedy" 'detention' setting-as-plot-device.
@@onijester56 wasn’t his plan to shoot himself, not other people? Does that still classify as a school shooting?
@@sanguillotine while technically yes…There’s rarely a full distinction…especially in America when he could have left the flare gun at home and offed himself there.
I remember the reason why I read all the Aldous Huxley books I possibly could was simply because "Brave New World" was banned in many countries but his thoughts were so intriguing.
In tenth grade I had an English teacher who had the Bachman books and he knew I liked reading things like that and he lent it to me. I would've returned it but quarantine hit and I got kicked out and moved. I lost the book in my old home. I really enjoyed reading rage and the long walk bc it was simply riveting and horrifying all in one.
The Breathing Method never gets discussed, the 4th book out of the Different Seasons compillation. The idea of a pregnant woman still birthing a baby in the back of a cab while fully decapitated...due to just muscle memory...is intetesting.
Huh...is that possible or just in the book? Probably just in the book.
@@johnhein2539 not possible. Even if you buy “muscle memory” as a thing that can happen after death, a decapitation would result in such massive blood loss that the muscles wouldn’t be able function.
@@vysharra is fiction my frend, you understanding? is no tru story comrade, please vote for ukraine soccer and do tiktok dance for me right now! pleaseee wear hijab for Allah safety! Dnt forget doing antisocial-closeness!!! OneLuv
@@johnhein2539 most probably not. The theme of the story is about how a person's determination overcomes the odds. The pregnant woman gave birth to her child rather than let it die with her.
@@SaulmanPhishbass the fuck is your problem?
Gotta love King’s sense of humor, the way he handled the uncovering of his pen name was a serious flex. I’ve been an avid King reader since I was in high school in the early 90’s and I haven’t faltered in my reading habit. I have a tendency to read a lot of his books at least once a year, my favorites being The Stand, The Dark Tower Series, It, The Shining and a few other. Once I start one I can’t put it down, it’s a hard habit to break and I don’t mind it at all. I’m a King junkie!
The best part of being a "Tower Junkie" is that pretty much no matter what you read by King, you can enjoy it on it's own, but it's ALSO gonna tie into The Dark Tower and make the experience that much better and worth it if you know your way around the universe. Long days and pleasant nights!
@@Zombittenkitten Indeed, and they can be enjoyed over and over. I’ve read most of his books so many times I’ve lost count. They’re still captivating.
too bad he’s a weird creepy Lib now
King doesn't know how to hold back. A true artist.
You deserve more subscribers. Great video man 👍
Some of the themes sound similar to King's book Carrie: teenage angst, abuse, alienation etc. I wonder what the consequences/aftermath of the book Rage would have had if the main character had used a "supernatural ability" instead of a gun?
Book is found in fiction:fantasy section
In my opinion the fact that it had been a gun and not some kind of supernatural power made it something most teenagers could imitate or think about imitating it- things like psychic powers are cliche and you forget about them after consuming the media where you came across the trope. Guns? They're very real, a lot of American households have them, and before many districts started becoming more strict and even in spite of that all you had to do was conceal it and go to school to perform the act. It's just too real. Obviously these stories can still be told, but I respect King for pulling it from shelves. The sympathetic angle is unthinkable these days, especially in a post-Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook etc. world. Honestly just too many tragedies.
Here’s a hot take: Carrie was a girl, Charlie was not.
@@InkfinityOkamix3 So? what does that have to do with it?
@@greenapple_cos4971 if you can’t see what that has to do with it, it’s not worth discussing with you.
I had a feeling my old high school would be on the list and it still sent chills down my spine. My mom was actually attending the school when it happened. Feels weird hearing about it in this context.
Dude multiple of my teachers at my school were in one of these at our old high school. Apparently most of them had no idea what happened for a while
In jr. high school I read both Bachman Books and Different Seasons. Both had four stories in them. I didn't think much about Rage at the time... in fact I'd say "Apt Pupil", from Different Seasons, would have rung more bells to the point that people would worry about its influence.
Thanks so much for this video it actually helped for my sophomore year final
I read Rage and do not feel it would have an impact on school violence. People blamed Catcher in the Rye for many years and those darn devil records.
I don't know if it would or not but frankly all these coming of age books from the 60s and 70s are rather underwhelming(and yes, Rage clearly is a coming of age novel with a violent dysfunctional twist) It seems the only real problems kids had back then was how stuck up adults were and how unwilling to discuss their vulnerabilities and shortcomings. Because of this kids thought they too had to be perfect and were wracked with doubt when they didn't measure up. There's even a line where Carol Granger thinks of her valedictorian speech and decides it doesn't matter much anyway because there aren't even very many minorities to rescue. This is a world where politics and religion didn't matter, there were no social media pressures - all that was out of joint was that parents were uptight and didn't talk about how life was often less than perfect as indeed were people. Growing up in the 21st century is far more stressful and far from worrying about parents being uptight modern kids probably mostly wish their parents had more dignity, at least in public! Politics matter, religion is no longer a predictable emotion, even something like porn has had a transformative influence on human culture. And social media represent an source of added stress and complexity to young lives especially which is unexampled in history. If anything, the world of these books seems very peaceful, tame, and soft. Dreary and tedious perhaps but not even remotely stressful. Charlie's overreaction to his Dad's macho talk with his friends, when in reality, his wife could kick him out of the house whenever she pleased(as she does after the storm window breaking incident) is a good example of how, it seems, these kids just didn't know how peaceful they had it. To us, it seems like the kind of age where violent outbursts would be a rebellion against boredom more than anything else. They might have hit differently back in the day but they come off pretty lame today
We performed this in high school ( South Africa 1997) We won best play in our provincial category. Was crazy now looking back back at it ✌️
Woah thats crazy
In this video, it's stated that the first incident linked to the book was in 1988. In 1986 there was an incident in a Lewistown Montana school that was eventually linked to Rage, but the details are difficult to find (digitized public records and paywall reporting sites) The perpetrator was Kristofor Hanns. I only know this because I know Kristofor personally, and it makes me wonder how many other incidents like these have been burried by obscurity and time. It's easy for that to happen when many of these kinds of incidents never reached national public consciousness, as was typical at the time. Good work on the video. Excellently researched.
Thank you for reminding! I totally forgot that already read this jewel in school times. How long ago that was
I finally found a copy of The Bachman books in paperback AFTER he took Rage out of print. It's the one with 4 novels in it. The bookstore owner didn't know what they had...at the time, Rage had JUST been taken off of the shelves, so copies of the book were worth like $200. I paid a dollar-fitty for it. Still have it to this day. The best story in the book isn't Rage, BTW - it's either The Long Walk or The Running Man.
The Long Walk is by far Kjng’s creepiest work!
The fourth story (about the man refusing to sell his home for a highway extension to go through) was also great
@@347Jimmy Roadwork! I saw this book on my neighbor's (his mom's) bookshelf when I was a kid and would read it every time I slept over.
I read it when I was in high school. It was on our optional reading list but the catch was if you wanted to do an essay on it you had to track down a copy because they were super hard to come by. Turns out my Grans boyfriend collects kings books. So I read it. And the story was just sort of... lackluster? It was super unrealistic to me and took way too much suspension of disbelief. Of course I read it after we were already having shooter drills at school, so maybe it's just because I have too much expectation of what a school shooting is really like, which is a bit of an interesting thought
@boneless Fair but that’s definitely true. A school shooter that spares people is unthinkable
@boneless yea like could you imagine if the next generation was like what's the big deal with The Human Centipede because they do it for fun or some shit... Frickin ewww dude
i haven't read it, but when Selador described that nearly every student found themselves siding with Decker, that's definitely when i went, "oh yeah, this was written before school shootings happen multiple times annually." i can buy a couple kids agreeing with Decker or maybe even helping him, but certainly not all of them, no matter how charming or therapeutic the talks were. though, knowing King, he's not necessarily interested in "realism" as much as he is using horror/suspense to express themes on the human condition.
It bothered me that he was meant as a sympathetic character, like it hits different in the 21st century
@@sciencestuffs8978 actually some have. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were known to have spared people. Look up the stories of Brooks Brown and John Savage.
Your channel deserves to be so much bigger.
I genuinely love the Bachman Books. Espically The Long Walk, one of my favourite books ever! They will definitely stick with me for along time.
I read this book as a 14yo in the early 2000' and, being french, I had no idea that such events had happened in real life. Rage had a huge impact on me, not because of the violence of the subject matter but because of the rawness of the writing and of the emotions displayed. King really stroke a cord there, it speaks of his genius.
Rage was a harsh read, i was 13 when i read it, and the story stuck with me for a few years, Then i found out Richard Bachman was Stephen King, and it all made sense. I read the rest of the Bachman books, found in that 4 Novels by format, ironically at my school library. I have always been a fan, I have three separate releases of The Stand, two being UNcut, one being just a paperback. His writings always fascinate me, and his thoughts are always on paper. Such a great writer.
I just found the early Bachmann stories in my personal collection excited to dive in
As an astronomy student, I appreciate that you distinguished between astrological and astronomical.
I remember I read Rage in my school library during my sophomore year, when I discovered a whole novel of all four of the Bachman books. Rage was the first one. It literally had me glued to the page. It truly is something else and is one of my most favorite novels.
I liked this book. It was brave of him to pull it, in my opinion. You can't know how you'd feel unless you're in his position and even then you might feel about it differently. I think it was the right decision if he wasn't sure. If he felt it could be morally wrong to let it be released. Pulling it is definitely not a moral wrong. So a moral decision to pull it is logical.
I mean the fundamental problem with believing your work can influence someone to such a degree is that Correlation does not equal causation, nor nowadays do we have any evidence of a significant change in human behavior when exposed to media or art of any kind, so in reality the book being in those criminals possession was merely a coincidence even if they related to the protagonist of the book, they were already ticking time bombs from emotional trauma and mental health issues, by removing it king was only posturing for publicity sake. I think personally there is a fundamental misunderstanding of morality here, what he did could be argued as not moral but also not immoral a sort of ammoral decision, to take responsibility for actions that he had no control or agency of is merely a byproduct of people unfairly connecting him to these events, I certainly understand the decision as a sentimental thing but I find it no more helpful or important than simply having not done so, as he is not accountable or responsible at all and the events have no connection to him as far as I am concerned.
TLDR public hysteria and Rumors/Gossip and a fundamental misunderstanding of causation in the public conversation around tragedy is what often leads to things that are completely unrelated being connected and it really means nothing, it’s unfortunate he felt the need to remove the book due to public pressure or feeling wrongly accountable for those events.
"A moral decision to pull it is logical." Jesus, are we calling morals logical now? Or logic "moral"? Either way I think you're missing wide.
i wondered why this sounded familiar and realized that I've read the short story version of this story in the bachman books. it was an interesting read. very well written while also sad considering the reality of it.
I remember reading this story when I was in my teens which was a long, long, time before Columbine. It was the first story in The Bachman Books and I think the name later changed to Getting it On. It was only many years later when the book had fallen to bits and I went to buy another copy, that I realised the story was missing from the collection.
I read this book as a teenager many moons ago. What stood out to me wasn't so much the slaying of the teacher but the strikingly heartfelt conversations the students had and how vulnerable the killer allowed himself to be.
I had lost my copy of the Bachman Books. But when I found out about Rage was going out of print, I ordered a copy immediately. I LOVE this novel! It's like Catcher in the Rye, but better!
Except that Catcher in the Rye blows goats.
A very influential book that has had a huge impact on society and people's lifes.
I read that book when I was a teenager and it was known as a Bachman book. That was in the late 80's.... im 50 now...my!! How times have changed
I, too, actually enjoyed the story for its message. As long as there are people who feel excluded from our society's norms there will be Charlie Deckers. I think the story would make an extremely engaging theatre play. I see it like that whenever I read it. The Bachman stories have always been, for me, far harder to read given that they are so much more grounded in reality than the bulk of King's work which I also love. The commentor on 'Walk' has a point as to which is worse because of the rate of senseless death. In this day and age where we tend to hide or cancel anything unpleasant instead of dealing with it, I think this story still has an important message to impart. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely I never understood the idea of "cancelling" something You can't just hide a problem under the rug and ignore it, or decide someone doesn't get to be part of society because of a difference of opinion. It's exactly how you create Charlie Deckers I actually wrote a song about cancel culture. Seems to do well, but I don't think most people catch the lyrics unfortunately
The Barry Loukaitis incident actually happened in my hometown! My grandmother had previously been a teacher at Frontier Middle School and the shooting happened in her old classroom. And instead of a student overtaking Barry, it was actually a faculty member who volunteered to be a hostage so that the other students could escape - he was our neighbor’s father and luckily he made it out alive. The shooting happened a few years before I was born, but I still remember how traumatized the people in my town were years after. When I went looking for Stephen King books in my middle school library, I was told that not only had Rage been removed from the library, but they held no Stephen King books at all. As an avid Stephen King reader, this was inconvenient for sure, but I couldn’t blame anyone in my town for doing what they thought could prevent another incident. The book Rage became like a local taboo and I can say with confidence that it still affects the community to this day.
Paused at zero. finally some advice from Stephen King I can appreciate.
I loved that book. I read it in HS and made my mom read it. She loved it too :)
Rage is the very first book I read by Stephen King. I was about 11 years old and instantly fell in love with his work. To this day it's one of my favorite books.
This video was recommended to me months ago, ironically and eerily enough it was recommended to me again, following the recent tragedy that happened in Uvalde, Tx. May GOD bless those families, and children that survived with strength and serenity. May the children and adults that died be Resting in peace, Ameen.
I'm so happy I got this book before it was pulled out of publication
I read "Rage" earlier this year (it's in a quartet alongside "The Long Walk", "Roadwork" and "The Running Man" and honestly, I don't think I'll ever read a book with such an impact ever again. It felt like with every word read a weight was wrapped around my insides, constantly getting heavier and more difficult to bear. I simultaneously despise and adore the book for its story and lesson- it sugar-coats nothing, and in that it has my respect.
I read Rage a long time ago, after finding out why the story was pulled out of shelves, and I genuinely thought it was a decent nuanced story and there are waaaay more violent media today. I expected some senseless violent mass school shooting story but it discusses sensitive topics in a respectful way. Maybe it's because I was exposed to way worse media in my life, and that we hear way worse on the news nowadays, but I can't see how this story could cause real life school shootings.
I remember reading this in the early nineties. My school library had the full set of Stephen King novels as did my dad. I always remember the story of of the girl Christmas shopping when someone yells something derogatory out a window as they went by and it ruined her day. Very intriguing novel and look into different perspectives.
Funny enough, growing up I only had books and I read this cover to cover so many times before I was even in 5th grade. Granted I didn't understand it fully but I understood the seriousness and gravity of the situation stephen king told.