Twelve Angry Men

Reginald Rose
4.07
36,156 ratings 2,374 reviews
A landmark American drama that inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival—featuring an introduction by David Mamet A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.   After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.
Genres: PlaysClassicsFictionDramaSchoolTheatreRead For SchoolMysteryCrimeAudiobook
96 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
13893 (38%)
4 star
13580 (38%)
3 star
6501 (18%)
2 star
1633 (5%)
1 star
549 (2%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Reginald Rose

Lists with this book

Forrest Gump
The Devil Wears Prada
Jurassic Park
I Only Watched the Movie!
1212 books • 6118 voters
The Night Circus
The Outsiders
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
There Ought to be a Band
2435 books • 1109 voters
Hamlet
The Importance of Being Earnest
Macbeth
Best Plays Ever
835 books • 1124 voters
A Streetcar Named Desire
Death of a Salesman
The Crucible
Best American Plays
249 books • 367 voters