The Other Wes Moore
Books | Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
4.1
(648)
Wes Moore
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the governor of Maryland, the “compassionate” (People), “startling” (Baltimore Sun), “moving” (Chicago Tribune) true story of two kids with the same name: One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison.The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just received a Rhodes Scholarship. The same paper also ran a series of articles about four young men who had allegedly killed a police officer in a spectacularly botched armed robbery. The police were still hunting for two of the suspects who had gone on the lam, a pair of brothers. One was named Wes Moore. Wes just couldn’t shake off the unsettling coincidence, or the inkling that the two shared much more than space in the same newspaper. After following the story of the robbery, the manhunt, and the trial to its conclusion, he wrote a letter to the other Wes, now a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His letter tentatively asked the questions that had been haunting him: Who are you? How did this happen?That letter led to a correspondence and relationship that have lasted for several years. Over dozens of letters and prison visits, Wes discovered that the other Wes had had a life not unlike his own: Both had had difficult childhoods, both were fatherless; they’d hung out on similar corners with similar crews, and both had run into trouble with the police. At each stage of their young lives they had come across similar moments of decision, yet their choices would lead them to astonishingly different destinies.Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of a generation of boys trying to find their way in a hostile world.
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Author
Wes Moore
Pages
256
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published Date
2010-04-27
ISBN
1588369692 9781588369697
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was hard to put down…Wes Moore grew up poor in New York but was able to navigate life and eventually become a combat veteran, Rhodes Scholar, and author. But one day he heard about the “other” Wes Moore who was on trial for murder from his same area. In the book, he sets out to explore the difference in their lives and what determines a life. As he says, it’s hard to tell the difference between a last chance and a second chance in real time."
Sheldon Rapoza
"A sobering look at the interplay of family, race, and poverty in the lives of two young black men. Wes Moore the author is a successful businessman, former army officer and a Rhodes Scholar; his doppleganger, a man about the same age with the same name is serving a life sentence for murdering a police officer. How could two boys, both raised in urban poverty by single mothers turn out so differently? The two Wes Moores spent hours interviewing each other over several years, and while the author provides no easy answers, certain key differences become apparent. Wes Moore the author had a dead father, but a mother who came from a stable high achieving family that appreciated the value of education and discipline. Wes Moore the criminal had an equally dedicated mother, but he and his brother had different fahers, few examples of stable families, and both fathered illegitimate children when still teens."
Lesley Williams
"I liked the summary and enough to pick it up, but it exceeded my expectations. The back-and-forth descriptions of the lives of the two central men is an intriguing way to get at the central question of "what made the difference?""
Cody Steele
"A story about two people with the same name, different paths. Beautiful, you should read this!!"
E P
Edwardo Perez
"It is a good book about how different people and how different their life’s became because of different ways of growing up. It really makes you think about how life could have been different if you choose a different path. "
R G
Rosa Gutierrez
"such a great story that puts into perspective how different peoples lives are "
L W
Larah Williams