The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

Really accessible and powerful.

I read this book while exploring for a summer read for my students. I needed to find something non-fiction. The book is about two men with the same name and very different endings to lives that started out very similarly. Moore does a nice job telling the story of the “other” Wes Moore, staying objective enough to allow the reader to form his/her own opinion about the decisions of each character. The details, however, do evoke empathy in the reader for each man's plight, and the reader is given an ample amount of background to show how sometimes our choices are driven by our environments, even if those choices are wrong. There is no escape of responsibility from the perspective of Moore, nor is there an arrogance to his own “fortune” when he could very likely have ended up in the same place as the “other” Wes Moore. It is absolutely worth the read.

Lots of thought-provoking stuff here; especially interesting to read along with Malcolm Gladwell. Very depressing re: the cyclical nature of poverty and how much culture determines drive/life map.

It was very inspirational. It really made me think about life decisions.