It began as a mistake." By middle age, Henry Chinaski has lost more than twelve years of his life to the U.S. Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze and racetrack betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers. This classic 1971 novelthe one that catapulted its author to national fameis the perfect introduction to the grimly hysterical world of legendary writer, poet and Dirty Old Man Charles Bukowski and his fictional alter ego, Chinaski.