INFO THE OTHER WES MOORE CHAPTER 2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

INFO THE OTHER WES MOORE CHAPTER 2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

INFO THE OTHER WES MOORE CHAPTER 2 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

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.

"The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his."

From Booklist
*Starred Review* In 2000, Wes Moore had recently been named a Rhodes Scholar in his final year of college at Johns Hopkins University when he read a newspaper article about another Wes Moore who was on his way to prison. It turned out that the two of them had much in common, both young black men raised in inner-city neighborhoods by single mothers. Stunned by the similarities in their names and backgrounds and the differences in their ultimate fates, the author eventually contacted the other Wes Moore and began a long relationship. Moore visited his namesake in prison; he was serving a life sentence, convicted for his role in an armed robbery that resulted in the killing of an off-duty policeman. Growing up, both men were subject to the pitfalls of urban youth: racism, rebellion, violence, drug use, and dealing. The author examines eight years in the lives of both Wes Moores to explore the factors and choices that led one to a Rhodes scholarship, military service, and a White House f ellowship, and the other to drug dealing, prison, and eventual conversion to the Muslim faith, with both sharing a gritty sense of realism about their pasts. Moore ends this haunting look at two lives with a call to action and a detailed resource guide. --Vanessa Bush --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Biography
Wes Moore is an Army combat veteran, social entrepreneur, and national bestselling author. His first book, The Other Wes Moore, became an instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller as a story that conveys the importance of individual decisions alongside community support.

Wes graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge Military College and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University. He completed an MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Wes served as a paratrooper among the elite 82nd Airborne Division in the United States Army and retired as a Captain after having participated in a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan.