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crankylibrarian
Oct 15, 2011crankylibrarian rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
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 fathers, few examples of stable families, and both fathered illegitimate children when still teens.