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Written by 
- Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
- Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
- On Sale: January 11, 2011
- Price: $15.00
- ISBN: 978-0-385-52820-7 (0-385-52820-5)
about this book
Winner, 2011 BCALA (Black Caucus of ALA) Literary Award, Nonfiction
A 2011 Booklist Top 10 Black History Nonfiction Book
Selected for Common Reading at:
Colleges & Universities
Bay Path College (Springfield, MA)
Berry College (Mount Berry, GA)
Brookhaven College (Farmers Branch, TX)
Bunker Hill Community College (Boston, MA)
Cabrini College (Radnor, PA)
California State University at Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA)
Culver-Stockton College (Canton, MO)
Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL)
George Fox University (Newberg, OR)
Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN)
Goucher College (Baltimore, MD)
Kent State University (Kent, OH)
Marian University (Indianapolis, IN)
Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI)
Newbury College (Brookline, MA)
New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)
Nicholls State University (Thibodaux, LA)
Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ)
Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, CT)
Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT)
University of Akron (Akron, OH)
University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA)
University of Louisville (Louisville, KY)
Valley Forge Military College (Wayne, PA)
Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)
Washington Adventist University (Takoma Park, MD)
Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH)
High Schools
Baylor School (Chattanooga, TN)
Browning School (New York, NY)
Greater Lowell Technical High School (Tyngsboro, MA)
One City/One Book
Everybody Reads (Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR)
One Book, One Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA)
One Book One Waco (Waco, TX)
The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.
Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence? Wes Moore, the author of this fascinating book, sets out to answer this profound question. In alternating 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.
“All throughout high school as horrible as it sounds I never read our books assigned for class. I was never interested in reading something that just didn’t interest me, like Shakespeare. But, when I discovered I had to read a book for first year seminar, I assumed it would just be like all the high school books I was assigned to read. I went and bought the book, read the back cover and thought it sounded interesting and started reading. I was glued to the book and couldn’t put it down, which was a first for me.” —A first-year student at Penn State Berks
“Startling and revelatory . . . a rocketing real-life narrative.”—Baltimore Sun
“A moving book . . . a call to arms.”—Chicago Tribune
“This intriguing narrative is enlightening, encouraging, and empowering. Read these words, absorb their meanings, and create your own plan to act and leave a legacy.”—Tavis Smiley, from the Afterword
“[A] compassionate memoir—a story that explores how some survive and others sink in urban battlegrounds.”—People
“Moore vividly and powerfully describes not just the culture of the streets but how it feels to be a boy growing up in a world where violence makes you a man.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Inspiring . . . a story for our times.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here
