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The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

Wes Moore,

Tavis Smiley (Afterword)

3.83 · Rating details · 38,726 ratings · 4,523 reviews

Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. 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. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.

In December 2000, the Baltimore Sun ran a small piece about Wes Moore, a local student who had just ...more

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Hardcover, 233 pages

Published April 27th 2010 by Spiegel & Grau

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May 18, 2017 jv poore rated it it was amazing

Shelves: student_appropriate, own-it, student-recommended, realistic-fiction, survival-stories, prejudice-racism, biography, non-fiction, autobiography

I received this as a thank-you gift from a student. It was my pleasure & privilege to visit her senior English class every month to talk about books! I'm thinking about you, Chyna.

It seems so simple to become somewhat self-absorbed (or perhaps that's just me) that I can not help but marvel at those curious creatures that grasp an almost random thought and entirely think it through.

Mr. Moore did that very thing, then generously shared the parallel stories in the most thought-provoking and empath ...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Diane rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobooks, memoirs, read-for-work

This book was disappointing. It's based on a flawed premise that the story of two guys with the same name in the same city is inherently interesting.

But I thought this book was mundane and undiscerning. It never answered the question it asked, namely: Why did one of the guys named Wes end up in prison, and the other Wes end up with a college degree and a successful career?

The author writes about his tough childhood, and eventually his family sent him to military school to straighten up. The exp This book was disappointing. It's based on a flawed premise that the story of two guys with the same name in the same city is inherently interesting.

But I thought this book was mundane and undiscerning. It never answered the question it asked, namely: Why did one of the guys named Wes end up in prison, and the other Wes end up with a college degree and a successful career?

The author writes about his tough childhood, and eventually his family sent him to military school to straighten up. The experience changed his life, giving him discipline, confidence, and respect. He later graduated from Johns Hopkins University, became a Rhodes scholar, and served in Afghanistan.

In short, the author has an inspiring story and is a positive role model for troubled youth.

But where the book doesn't work is when the author interviews the "other Wes Moore," the one in prison for an armed robbery in Baltimore that killed a police officer. The other Wes also had a tough childhood, and got caught up in a drug-dealing gang. The story skips around in time, hitting different low points for the other Wes. A significant problem is that Imprisoned Wes is not reflective and his terse quotes don't elucidate the narrative. At one point he claims he's innocent of the robbery charges, but no alternative explanation is given.

I became very frustrated by this muddled book and almost abandoned it. I think this is another one of those stories that would have made a better magazine article, instead of being padded out to book length.

I am sure that author Wes Moore will have a successful career as a public speaker, and more power to him. But his book was just OK.

Inspiring Quote
"When we're young, it sometimes seems as if the world doesn't exist outside our city, our block, our house, our room. We make decisions based on what we see in that limited world and follow the only models available. The most important thing that happened to me was not being physically transported — the moves from Baltimore to the Bronx to Valley Forge didn't change my way of thinking. What changed was that I found myself surrounded by people ... who kept pushing me to see more than what was directly in front of me, to see the boundless possibilities of the wider world and the unexplored possibilities within myself. People who taught me that no accident of birth — not being black or relatively poor, being from Baltimore or the Bronx or fatherless — would ever define or limit me." ...more

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Jan 27, 2020 Diane S ☔ rated it liked it

Shelves: nfr-2020

Two young men of color, same name, different fates. This book really makes one think about the divisions one makes throughout their lives. What goes into these decisions, what effects the outcome. Lack of opportunity, pressure to make money, a mother that is overwhelmed, wanting to fit in, young prenthood, so many red flags. How to break the cycle without the means to do so. Even when given a second chance, outside pressure often dooms the person before he can take full advantage.

So, what is the ...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Chris rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, window_books

I heard about this when it came out a couple years ago and was intrigued, and then the College of Education I work and go to graduate school in chose it for its "common read," so I read it. It would absolutely be a good discussion starter in undergraduate classes. (Although unfortunately for my College of Education, the "successful Wes Moore" ultimately gets on the right path when his mom enrolls him in a private military school, so it doesn't provide any intel on how public schools can engage a ...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Holly Williams rated it did not like it

Shelves: book-club

The premise that these two men shared similar upbringings is barely tenable. I don't doubt that Mr. Moore's intentions were sincere, but beyond their mutual name, these men had very different mothers, fathers, family support systems, educational opportunities and friends. The similarities, by contrast, were far less impactive: a shared name and age, and brief stints living in Baltimore city proper. Furthermore, the commonality that they were both young African American men is much more complicat ...more

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Jan 22, 2020 Brina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: african-american, memoirs, race-relations

I used to think I had a unique name. In school I was the only one with my name, so, by default, teachers and acquaintances used to think that it was a typo for something else. This lead to some embarrassing moments but I have lived to tell the tale. Wes Moore of Baltimore, Maryland does not have a unique first or last name. While Westley is not all that common, Moore is a surname found throughout the United States, so by the law of averages a name has to recur eventually. When he was about to re I used to think I had a unique name. In school I was the only one with my name, so, by default, teachers and acquaintances used to think that it was a typo for something else. This lead to some embarrassing moments but I have lived to tell the tale. Wes Moore of Baltimore, Maryland does not have a unique first or last name. While Westley is not all that common, Moore is a surname found throughout the United States, so by the law of averages a name has to recur eventually. When he was about to return from a study abroad program, Wes Moore’s mother let him know that a man with his same name had run afoul from the law and was on trial for murder. This lead to Moore thinking that this other Wes came from a similar upbringing as him but the two of them have lead starkly different lives. Had it been because of upbringing, opportunity, or a combination? The question lead Wes Moore, the author, to research both of their families, which eventually lead to this enlightening book.

Wes Moore notes that the biggest difference in the two Wes’ lives is that his father was not there because he physically couldn’t be whereas the other Wes’ father chose not to be. Baltimore has one of the lowest high school graduation rates and highest murder rates in the nation. Wes surmises that this is partially because many African American males do not have fathers or other father figures in their lives. Wes’ father Westley was a journalist and both he and his wife Joy were college educated, yet when he tragically passed away when Wes was only three years old, Joy’s life began to crumble. Here in lied the difference between the two Wes’ lives. Joy was determined that her three children would not fall through the cracks and moved in with her parents in the Bronx, enrolling Wes and his younger sister Shani in Riverdale Academy. Even the upscale surroundings could not keep Wes away from the hip hop, street basketball, and drug culture that permeated Bronx streets during the 1990s. Joy intervened even more to keep her only son off of the streets and sent Wes to Valley Forge Military Academy from the time he was twelve years old. Although Wes resented this decision at the time, military school would save him from a life on the street.

The other Wes was not as fortunate. His mother Mary worked two jobs to provide for him and his older brother Tony but by doing so was not around much. Tony and Wes had different fathers, and both either lived in the projects, were unemployed, were strung out on drugs, or a combination of the above. With Mary working and fathers out of the picture, Tony essentially raised Wes. The example that Tony set was a life of cutting school, which lead to drug usage and eventually dealing. Mary believed that Wes, a former football star, could do better, but with no positive male examples to learn from, life on the West Baltimore streets was all he saw, resulting in few aspirations to better his life. As a result, Wes lead a life of teenage parenthood, arrests, being in and out of juvenile detention, and eventually a life prison sentence. Wes, the author, believed that his own life could have turned out like the other Wes’ had his mother not chosen to intervene early on in her widowhood. Had she chosen to remain in Baltimore, perhaps she would have lost her son to the streets as well. After reading about the author’s life, the idea of this would have been harrowing.

Wes built the foundation of this book by interviewing family and friends of both himself and the other Wes over a seven year period. This involved him visiting Wes in prison and contemplating the similarities and differences in their lives. The other Wes noted that Wes asked him many questions of his lives but failed to share anything about himself, which eventually lead to changing their relationship from a forced one to one of almost friendship. Prior to his arrest, the other Wes did try to reform, completing his GED and receiving a certification to work as a carpenter; he appeared to be turning his life around and may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, a case of mistaken identity that still occurs at crime scenes. Whether or not the other Wes participated in the crime he was convicted for, we will never know; however, according to the author, he has shown remorse. Meanwhile, Wes used his experiences at Valley Forge to lead to a life of political involvement and social action around the world. He believes that having role models and mentors at Valley Forge and at all stops in his education and employment made a world of difference, separating him from other African American males his age who became statistics of the street, people like the other Wes.

Wes Moore has gone from an almost street statistic to a Johns Hopkins graduate, Rhodes scholar, world traveler, Afghanistan war veteran, and successful businessman and author. He has met a who’s who in American life and can trace his success back to having family members who cared about him. The one conversation with his mother about another Wes Moore being convicted for attempted murder changed Wes’ life. He added author to his list of accolades and also could say that he is strongly involved in his community. In order to prevent more kids from becoming like the other Wes, he believes in mentorship and community involvement. In the afterward, he notes that this awareness could make a difference in the next generation of youths. By having more socially conscious individuals like Wes Moore, even ones who share names with convicted felons, it might be safe to say that this generation of youths is in better hands than the one before it. What an astounding, enlightening person to read about.

4 stars ...more

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May 22, 2010 Ken rated it liked it

Shelves: finished-in-2010, contemporary

Two Wes Moores diverged in a yellow wood (called Baltimore)
And sorry he could not travel both
And be one traveler, long Wes Moore the Rhodes Scholar stood
And looked down one as far as he could
By interviewing the other Wes Moore in Jessup Correctional Institution
Where the path disappears in the undergrowth
Of drug-dealing, robbery, and accomplice to murder.

Wes took the other, as just as fair,
Through military school, time in Afghanistan, and ultimately the business world,
And having perhaps the bette ...more

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May 08, 2010 Tracy Miller rated it really liked it

Disclaimer: I have met the author Wes Moore. He was a student worker in the Career Center when I worked at Johns Hopkins. I didn't know him well, but did interact with him. Even then, it was apparent that he was a pretty extraordinary person. I was excited to read this book because I felt like I "knew" the characters and setting a bit.

I think my knowledge of the author colored my ability to see this book as a comparison of two boys with the "there but for the grace of God..." ideal that the desc Disclaimer: I have met the author Wes Moore. He was a student worker in the Career Center when I worked at Johns Hopkins. I didn't know him well, but did interact with him. Even then, it was apparent that he was a pretty extraordinary person. I was excited to read this book because I felt like I "knew" the characters and setting a bit.

I think my knowledge of the author colored my ability to see this book as a comparison of two boys with the "there but for the grace of God..." ideal that the description implies. Could the author Wes Moore have become the criminal Wes Moore? Perhaps. We all make foolish choices in life, and those choices made in the context of the environment that Wes was in, could have been tragic. But could the criminal Wes Moore have become the author? That seems to me to be more unlikely, because author Wes has a gift of charisma that draws people to him. Whether it resulted from his life experience or was a factor in his gaining that life experience is a chicken-or-egg question, but it is rare and probably not a fair comparison for another person.

Regardless of the strain of the comparison, the book definitely makes it clear that there were factors that existed in the author's life that didn't in the criminal's. One was the presence of an educated mother, and, in the author's case, one that was willing to do whatever it took to make sure her son went down the right path. The author's mother also had competent family support, something that the criminal's mother sadly lacked. Although both boys grew up fatherless, the circumstances of that fatherlessness were vastly different. It must have a different impact psychologically to know that you had a father that would have been there for you had he not tragically died, than to know that you have a living father that doesn't give a crap about you.

I guess where I'm left is wondering what to do with this information. Yes, we know that having a strong support network makes success possible for kids, regardless of the economics of their birth. I'm left wondering how we give them that network. Can someone else make up for the lack of a strong family base? If so, how? ...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Emily rated it did not like it

Shelves: social-change, salty-book-reviews

I was very excited for this book, only to be let down. Hugely.

Wes Moore (the "successful" one) spends a lot of the book describing WHAT happens, without exploring WHY things might have transpired the way that they did. The fact is, the Wes Moore in prison never, ever could have had the same story as the "successful" Wes Moore, and it is very unlikely that the "successful" Wes Moore could have ended up in prison like the "unsuccessful" Wes Moore.
Why not? The author came from a family with two suc ...more

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Dec 25, 2020 Karl Jorgenson rated it really liked it

Two young men growing up in Baltimore have similar circumstances: poverty, loss of their father, access to gangs and drugs. Coincidentally, they share a name. One serves in the military and goes on to success; the other goes to prison.
The reason to read the book seemed to be a chance to see where bad Wes went wrong or good Wes went right. It turns out to be more simple and less certain than one would hope: good Wes had mentors who kept steering him to productive society, bad Wes had mainly his b ...more

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Dec 05, 2019 Christy rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, non-fiction, memoirs, read-in-2019

This book was cool... something new, different, and such an intriguing concept! I've really been into nonfiction lately, and this one was no exception. The men in this book are named Wes Moore and Wes Moore. Two kids with the same name, similar ages, and living in the same city. Both had difficult childhoods, missing fathers, police run ins, similar types of friends, etc, etc. The author has ended up with a successful life - Rhodes Scholar and Veteran. The other Wes Moore is living the rest of h ...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Jason Arias rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction

This thought provoking book, about two young men from similar backgrounds ultimately branching in two totally different directions, is a stark reminder that the shirking of personal accountability has historically been the downfall of many passionate men and women destined for greatness, yet shackled to self destruction. Moore writes with a delicate balance that makes the story human without distorting the facts with romanticism. By paralleling the lives of Moore (the author) and Moore (the pris ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Felipe Cordoba rated it liked it

Initially I wasn’t too sure about reading this book because of what it seemed to be advertising. From the moment I picked it up at the library and read the summary, Wes Moore struck me as one of the folks who particularly enjoys telling others of his success and makes it a point to demonstrate how another man by the same name is a failure. Although I do respect him for his accomplishments and look up to how he escaped the Baltimore projects, it was hard to imagine an author being very philosophi ...more

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Aug 18, 2019 Moonkiszt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bookclubbable, bulliesnjerks, learned_me, social-system-failure, mademecry, makingtheworldabetterplace-howto, its-all-about-choices, military-involved, painfully-true, re-readable

Yes, Sir!! This book is a great way to spend time - considering on the consequences of choices we make all throughout our days, every day as the choser, and as the influencer of choices. We operate in so many different roles - leader, follower, parent, child, teacher, student, stranger, neighbor, hero, villan, friend, enemy, advocate, persecutor. . . .choices and roles interchange and tangle up within each of us every single day. Who are we going to be in this minute, in this class, in this day ...more

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Apr 02, 2010 C rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, first-reads

This review is based on a set of advance proofs which I won in a Goodreads Giveaway.

The Other Wes Moore is a fascinating look at the lives of two men, both named Wes Moore, both from low-income families, both from un-privileged urban backgrounds. One man sits in prison for life, convicted of participation in a robbery and the murder of a police officer, while the other went on to enjoy every success that a young man can enjoy.

The author, the Wes Moore who went on to become a Rhodes Scholar and ...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Cflack rated it liked it

I am reading this book during a very difficult time in the city where I live. This fall, and more specifically the last three weeks, there have been four shootings and three deaths of black males between the ages of 15 and 23. As someone who grew up in this community and has chosen to raise a family here, we as a community are grappling with these senseless deaths. I would not say that Wes Moore is a great writer, but he is an eloquent and impassioned writer on this subject which touches him ver ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 Howard rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, biography, non-fiction

3 Stars for The Other Wes Moore (audiobook) by Wes Moore and Tavis Smiley read by Wes Moore. The author seemed to have trouble explaining the point to this story. It’s kind of interesting to see how two young men’s lives could start out so similar and then end up so different. But I was most fascinated by the achievements of the author. His story is really inspirational. There just wasn’t enough of it.

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Nov 29, 2020 Therese rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I loved this book, perhaps more so as I listened to the audio version, narrated by the author. The book is based on the true story of two young Black boys, growing up in 1980’s Baltimore under similar circumstances, both with the same name, Wes Moore, and realizing completely different outcomes to their lives. Wes Moore, the author, rises above the fray, graduating from military school as a high schooler, then going on to graduate from Johns Hopkins and Oxford, and becoming a Rhodes scholar. The ...more

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May 18, 2011 Tamara Sam rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-ebooks, book-club

I literally finished this book cover-to-cover in less than 24hrs. My pending book club meeting this weekend played a role in my desire to finish quickly *smile*, but this was definitely a page turner. I’ve always been intrigued by the lives and struggles of people growing up in difficult neighborhoods, and under less than favorable circumstances. Maybe that is my sheltered naiveté shining through, who knows.

Throughout the book, my goal was to find the ‘turning point’ – the decision, scenario, o ...more

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Feb 15, 2020 Kym Moore rated it really liked it · review of another edition

~Choices and accountability made at the crossroads of which path to follow~

This book tells the compelling story of the contrast between the lives of two kids named Wes Moore, living in the same city, different neighborhoods, grew up for different reasons in single-parent homes while both did some stupid things that led to getting in trouble with the police. Sometimes rational thought while trying to function in a dysfunctional world is thrown out the window when confronted by circumstances tussl ~Choices and accountability made at the crossroads of which path to follow~

This book tells the compelling story of the contrast between the lives of two kids named Wes Moore, living in the same city, different neighborhoods, grew up for different reasons in single-parent homes while both did some stupid things that led to getting in trouble with the police. Sometimes rational thought while trying to function in a dysfunctional world is thrown out the window when confronted by circumstances tussling with the will to just survive.

Circumstances surrounding the lives of these two young men led them into taking opposite paths, of which the one could have ended up as the other. Sometimes rational thought is irrational when making decisions based on our personal and environmental circumstances.

All too often, at-risk kids regardless of the neighborhood they live in or the marginalized adults who live in substandard areas are judged negatively no matter what they do. Too often we look down our nose at these individuals and fail to see what potential the least of us embody in light of the opportunity others have been given. "What if?" The journey we take is never ours alone, whether positive or negative. Wisdom lies in knowing when to fight and knowing when to seek peace.

While Wes Moore, the Rhodes Scholar does not take for granted the sacrifices made by his family and the mentorship given when he didn't know he needed it, makes him realize that without this support, he probably would have ended up in the prison system himself. This book reveals the advantages of privilege, preference, and prestige, not to be braggadocious about it, but to reflect on our "route" to live and be grateful for the opportunities we're given.

I applaud and appreciate the research Wes Moore did for this book, because typically with his life experiences he could have written on more savory topics relating to his accolades that would have probably been more acceptable among general readership. It is definitely a reality check. ...more

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Jul 02, 2010 Walter rated it liked it

Maybe my expectations were too high for this book: I had seen its author on Tavis Smiley's television show and read a couple of (very) positive reviews of it, so I really expected to be blown away by The Other Wes Moore. In a word, I was not. It's an interesting story of two men who share a name and a background who choose very different paths. This is a good beginning; unfortunately, the execution thereafter leaves something to be desired.

The author, the "good" Wes Moore, begins life in a tough Maybe my expectations were too high for this book: I had seen its author on Tavis Smiley's television show and read a couple of (very) positive reviews of it, so I really expected to be blown away by The Other Wes Moore. In a word, I was not. It's an interesting story of two men who share a name and a background who choose very different paths. This is a good beginning; unfortunately, the execution thereafter leaves something to be desired.

The author, the "good" Wes Moore, begins life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and ends up a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, White House Fellow, etc. The "bad" one starts in the same place and ends up in prison for life. The point of the book is to examine why these two men ended up taking such wildly divergent paths and, ostensibly, how to encourage more people to emulate the good one.

Except that the parallels in their stories aren't quite as compelling as they may appear initially. For example, the good Wes Moore spends a number of his formative years living in the Bronx, NY, whereas his namesake never leaves Baltimore and its suburbs. Though the good one is shipped off to military school (after his antisocial behavior in a privileged private school), his educational path is decidely better than his namesake's because of his mother's ambition. The other doesn't have this much support or as much "push" from home, although his mother was encouraging of his positive development. Further, the bad Wes Moore has an older brother who in trying to dissuade him from pursuing his own example of a life in the streets ends up encouraging him to do just that, whereas the author has no such close relation or relationship dragging him down.

Still, all of this would be minor were it not for the reality that the author is far more adept at relaying his namesake's historical story than at penetrating the latter's world in the present, especially the part that begins after he is convicted of perpetrating a life-changing crime. The bad Wes Moore never quite comes to life as vividly as does the author, so he is not a particulary compelling figure with whom to compare and contrast. As such, then, this weakens the impact of the book significantly.

This being said, there is an incredibly compelling story of the author's being influenced by a mentor to explore the Rhodes opportunity and then of his travel to South Africa for study during one of his collegiate years. Simply put, this passage near the end of the book comprised for me the most compelling ten pages in it. It is because of this moving section of the book that I recommend that it be read. Simply put, this excerpt is so powerfully and movingly relayed that it makes reading the rest of the book worth it (or, just read these ten pages and be amazed by their profundity and meaning).

(The same could also be said of a section early in the book in which the author describes his father and the influence that he has early in his son's life.)

In summary, then, I liked The Other Wes Moore but was disappointed because I expected to love it after having read about it and seen it previewed on TV. Perhaps if I hadn't had as much exposure to it before reading it I would have a different reaction to it, so I encourage others to keep this in mind as they consider reading it. Wes Moore is an interesting young man whom you cannot help but admire, so his contribution of this book is meaningful. I wish that he had been able to bring his namesake's essence to the fore as powerfully, but I would nonetheless recommend this book to others. ...more

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May 25, 2018 catherine ♡ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

I think the premise for this was super interesting, and it had a lot of potential to be a really heartfelt read, because I quite liked some of the scenes, but in the long run the book fell a little flat for me. It was a lot of "tell", not "show", and it started to feel like a timeline of life events that I think could have been improved with more emotional emphasis. I also really loved the bits about South Africa and apartheid, and having just finished reading Trevor Noah's Born a Crime: Stories ...more

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May 08, 2013 Deka rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013

the story of two wes moores that ended very differently though the author doesnt pinpoint an exact reason. i dont think he should. it's impossible to say definitively what would or would not have improved one's life. but, to me this book illustrates the importance of asking for help when you need it, the importance of education and a supportive family, the weight of accountability and responsibility, the variance of human nature, and how a seemingly small decision can change your life. ...more

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Nov 30, 2013 Ms. Parks rated it really liked it

When I student taught last year at Pattonville, one of my students told me that he was reading The Other Wes Moore, and it was the best book he’d ever read. Now, usually I’m excited to hear any of my students say they loved reading a certain book, but this was an especially big deal. This was a student who was born a crack baby, didn’t get past page 2 of The Great Gatsby because it was “just that boring,” couldn’t sit still, and was hardcore failing my class. Yet he was genuinely enjoying a book When I student taught last year at Pattonville, one of my students told me that he was reading The Other Wes Moore, and it was the best book he’d ever read. Now, usually I’m excited to hear any of my students say they loved reading a certain book, but this was an especially big deal. This was a student who was born a crack baby, didn’t get past page 2 of The Great Gatsby because it was “just that boring,” couldn’t sit still, and was hardcore failing my class. Yet he was genuinely enjoying a book. As a teacher, I constantly strive to make what goes on in my classroom relevant to my students’ outside lives and interests. So, I picked up the book with the intentions of seeing if this is a book worth teaching to my students.

The Other Wes Moore is a true story that examines what really makes the difference between people growing up in similar circumstances: is it quality of education, parental support, the friends we chose for ourselves, self-esteem, differing life experiences? Two different men, strangers to each other, grow up without a father, in same neighborhood in inner-city Baltimore, and share the same name: Wes Moore. We Moore (the author) goes to college, becomes a Rhodes Scholar, attends Oxford, studies abroad in South Africa, serves in the military, befriends some of the most influential people in the nation, and has a bright future ahead of him. The other Wes Moore drops out of school, deals drugs, fathers children with different mothers, and ends up in prison for life. The author, Wes Moore, was in college when he heard a news report about this man with the same man imprisoned for manslaughter, and he haunted Wes’s thoughts for two years. Finally, Wes wrote to the other Wes in prison requesting an interview, and the book took off from there.

The book’s narrative jumps between the two Wes’s lives in sort of a parallel structure, which is quite interesting to read: in fact, I finished the book so quickly that I found myself asking, “Wait—it’s over already?!” While the two Wes’s lives are quite similar when they are very young, their lives diverge drastically when the author Wes is sent off to military school by his Mom (who has a college education and an excellent family and friend support system) after he becomes a discipline problem at his school. The author Wes’s Mom had to sacrifice a lot to send her son to military school, but that sort of left me wondering about the options that concerned inner-city parents really have if they have no money. And surely military school isn’t the only fix for children who have disciplinary problems. What seemed to make the biggest difference between the two Wes’s, though, wasn’t just the decisions of their mothers, but I think the support systems that they and their families chose for themselves. The author Wes’s Mom moved in with her parents after her husband died, and she had a strong network of friends that was able to recommend military school to her. In contrast, the other Wes’s Mom hung with the wrong crowd, just as the other Wes himself did. There is one bright spot in the book for the other Wes, though, and I thought things were going to finally turn around: when he leaves home for several months for the Job Corps, in which he lived in an area like a college campus, was taught useful job skills, and was surrounded by positive influence. However, once he moved back home, there were simply no permanent jobs paying more than $9 an hour for his skill set and he was left without the support he had at Job Corps, so he gave in to his past ways of making money so he could support his family. That was the saddest part of the story for me.

Just like my student at Pattonville, I strongly recommend this book. I don’t think only people with some sort of a connection to the city will enjoy the book, because many of the struggles and temptations that both Wes Moores go through are everywhere: drugs, teenage pregnancy, stealing, fighting, living with poverty. Really, I think that anyone who is a teenager, or who works with teenagers, or anyone interested in the human experience, will benefit from reading this fascinating, fast-paced book.
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Oct 15, 2011 Richard Derus rated it liked it

This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud! ...more

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Jun 19, 2020 Miss Murder rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, memoirs, crime

"Having an advocate on the inside...had obviously helped. It made me think deeply about the way privilege and preference work in the world, and how many kids who didn't have "luck" like mine in this instance would find themselves forever outside this ring of power and prestige. So many opportunities in this country are apportioned in this arbitrary and miserly way, distributed to those who already have the benefit of a privileged legacy."

Wes Moore & Wes Moore are two young black boys growing up

"Having an advocate on the inside...had obviously helped. It made me think deeply about the way privilege and preference work in the world, and how many kids who didn't have "luck" like mine in this instance would find themselves forever outside this ring of power and prestige. So many opportunities in this country are apportioned in this arbitrary and miserly way, distributed to those who already have the benefit of a privileged legacy."

Wes Moore & Wes Moore are two young black boys growing up just a few blocks apart in Baltimore. While they share the same name, their lives have two very different outcomes. One of them grew up to enlist in the US Army, receive one of the most prestigious scholarships, and attend Oxford University, just a few major events in a lifetime full of achievements. The other Wes Moore began serving a life sentence without parole at the young age of 23, the consequence of a life filled with poverty and drugs.

For those that have a gripe with this book because it does not truly explain the why behind the two conflicting lives of the Wes Moores: The book is not supposed to answer that question. It is meant as an addition to the nature vs. nurture argument.

The author himself states he is not sure why their two lives are so different - whether teen pregnancy, mentorship, or access to education was what truly changed the course of their lives. As the author points out, he is not sure that any one decision or event changed their life to the point of no return. I think this is a problem I had in the beginning of the book as well, but in order to truly understand the story one must learn to get over that desire for a singular answer.

What the book doesn't address is the two very different lives they led from the beginning. The successful Wes Moore had a family of college graduates and a mother that was a strict disciplinarian. The unsuccessful Wes Moore had a broken family with minimal supervision and guidance. It is clear that their young decisions both sparked trouble and laid bare potential issues ahead, but their resources were vastly different. This allowed for one to lead a very successful life and the other to follow in the same path as the rest of his family.

The author, Wes Moore, has a very inspiring life story that makes you want to achieve just as much as he has. However, I feel like the novel did not address the true nuances of the decisions both Weses made. I feel like the imprisoned Wes Moore was overshadowed by the accomplishments of the author, as we were able to see into his life so much more. I wish I could have gotten to know the unsuccessful Wes Moore better, to understand what his home life was truly like, his life with his multiple baby mothers, and his relationship to his mother as his life was headed down the wrong path. I feel as though we were able to see that with the author, but not with the subject on which the entire book is written.

I was genuinely surprised that the author spent "hours upon hours" on interviews and research with the other Wes Moore. The book shows you three very short interactions with the two of them and that is as far as actual interviews and firsthand conversations go. This book has great potential and contains awesome reflections on the struggles of black boys in America, but it was a lot of disappointment in the end. ...more

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Jan 30, 2011 Aubrey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, person-of-everything, antidote-think-twice-all, 1-read-on-hand, authorness, r-goodreads, r-2018, reviewed, antidote-think-twice-read, 2-star

I gained very little, if anything, from this book. It is quite possible I would have gotten more had I read it in middle or even grade school, as it seems certain users on this site were made to do, but as it stands, this work is little more than a cog in society's efforts to force the individual to internalize social problems rather than recognize that the fault lies in larger social mechanics. There's also the matter that this work is far shorter than I was led to believe, and while I'm certai I gained very little, if anything, from this book. It is quite possible I would have gotten more had I read it in middle or even grade school, as it seems certain users on this site were made to do, but as it stands, this work is little more than a cog in society's efforts to force the individual to internalize social problems rather than recognize that the fault lies in larger social mechanics. There's also the matter that this work is far shorter than I was led to believe, and while I'm certain some readers would find its tens of pages devoted to charts of relief organizations useful, it doesn't make up for the text's repeated glossing over the underlying mechanic that makes black lives barely, if at all, matter in the United States. Indeed, the othering present in the title itself should have tipped me off, but the work had been on my shelf for so long and had already been put into a reading challenge that I felt ripping off the band aid would be the best course of action. Fool me once, I suppose.

I didn't hate this book. Far from it, this book could be useful, even life changing, if used correctly and not taken too seriously, for this work in no way enters the conversation held between The Fire Next Time and Between the World and Me. Instead, it joins a certain breed of self help book that treats with Reaganomics and the War on Drugs as necessary real world situations rather than the specifically targeted and genocidal evils that they are, placing the burden of their existence on the mother with no degree and the father with no healthcare and the children with no childhood. The decision between one Moore of the military one the other Moore of jail is no decision at all, for death, rape, PTSD, and chronic poverty are what await the vast majority of US veterans if official statistics are to believed. It was cherry picking that raised one Wes Moore on not the back of one, or the backs of two, but many, letting a few through the gate to keep the myth of the American dream alive, as if taking away ten rights and then giving back one was was what would usher in world peace. This "we" Moore mentions should be pointed directly at white people, as it's no use holding open the elevator if someone outside is taking an ax to your fingers, but of course the author never goes that far. Much time has passed, and the top reviews show not all are fooled, but that doesn't mean any of them are taking responsibility.

There are so many books out there that the status quo reads in order to reinforce their bad faith regarding anything worth valuing in a human being. This book doesn't set out to do that, unlike a number of classics and genre works, but it falls into many of the traps liberation espouses: pointing of fingers is not permitted despite the elephant crushing the mouse under its foot, anger is only permitted through institutionalized violence and not justified protests, neutrality is an attainable state within a settler state fed on enslavement and wholesale massacre, etc, etc, etc. There is nothing natural about either of the Wes Moore's lives. Both lives were methodically planned out, both were socioeconomically executed, and both served a larger purpose in stabilizing the human sacrifice complex that is the United states. Now is not the time for pages of phone numbers putting the responsibility of action on the already targeted individual. Now is the time to recognize that the lifeguard is the one who is doing the drowning. ...more

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Apr 27, 2010 Tony rated it really liked it

I'm not one who usually reads "uplifting" true stories with words like "hope" prominently featured in the title or subtitle, but I gave this one a chance for three reasons. First of all, some of it takes place in neighboring Baltimore in the mid-'90s, which is interesting to anyone, like me, who loved the HBO series The Wire. Secondly, at lot of the kids who come into the library I work at are in the same position as the two young Wes Moores described in the book -- they might succumb to the cal I'm not one who usually reads "uplifting" true stories with words like "hope" prominently featured in the title or subtitle, but I gave this one a chance for three reasons. First of all, some of it takes place in neighboring Baltimore in the mid-'90s, which is interesting to anyone, like me, who loved the HBO series The Wire. Secondly, at lot of the kids who come into the library I work at are in the same position as the two young Wes Moores described in the book -- they might succumb to the call of the street, or they might not. Finally, it's short and quick -- if I'm going to read a book like this, I don't want it to be padded out to reach 300 page ideal (note that the final 80 pages of the book are a list of organizations across the country that work to improve the lives of disadvantaged youth).

The premise of the book is that two young black men with the same name, coming up in roughly the same area, ended up in very different places in life. One is serving a life sentence for his role in a jewelry store heist in which a guard was killed, and the other ended up Rhodes Scholar and White House Fellow. The book came out of the latter one's desire to trace their histories and try and figure out why his life has worked out, while the other Wes's hasn't. He tells their life stories chronologically, alternating from himself to the incarcerated Wes, laying out the choices they made, and the context for those choices. He does this efficiently and fairly evocatively, managing to convey what goes on inside the heads of boys and young men without being overly analytical or judgemental. However, at the end, I was rather shocked to see him write the following of his grand investigation: "What made the difference?...The truth is that I don't know."

Well, any reader of the book could tell him -- the difference is class. Both his parents were college educated, his mother was more involved in his life and had vastly greater financial resources to devote to him, and he had high-achieving siblings. That's pretty much it. When the eventually-successful Wes made some poor decisions as a kid, his mom was able to ask her parents for the money to put him first in private school, and eventually in an elite military academy. Once he prospered in that environment, doors started opening for him, as the network of connections started helping him up the ladder. The other Wes's mother had no financial or familial support to draw upon, and eventually lost control of her son, who main male role model was his drug-dealing half-brother.

So, ultimately, there's not much of a lesson here, nor any kind of revelatory strategy for helping young black men. But it is a very instructive case study on how class mechanisms work in America, and what they mean in a tangible, concrete sense. ...more

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Oct 23, 2018 Jeanne rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2018, politics, african-american, memoir-biography

What if your life had taken a different path? How would you be different? How would your life be different?

That is the premise of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, a book I heard about when it first came out and which I have watched over the last several years. Wes Moore (the author) is a kid from Baltimore whose father died when he was three. His family moved to Brooklyn to live with his grandparents. He got into trouble, was arrested (and let off), and sent to military school by his l What if your life had taken a different path? How would you be different? How would your life be different?

That is the premise of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, a book I heard about when it first came out and which I have watched over the last several years. Wes Moore (the author) is a kid from Baltimore whose father died when he was three. His family moved to Brooklyn to live with his grandparents. He got into trouble, was arrested (and let off), and sent to military school by his loving and hard-working mother. After attempting to run away, he rose to the top, was admitted to Johns Hopkins with sub-par SATs, studied in South Africa, and became an unlikely Rhodes Scholar.

The other Wes Moore grew up nearby. He was raised by his single mother, sold drugs and got in trouble and more trouble, had four children by three women as a teenager (one woman a drug addict), robbed a jewelry store and shot an off-duty officer. He is now in prison without parole.

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

What made the difference between the two Wes Moores? In the hardcover version of The Other Wes Moore, the author was unable to identify why. I'm glad that I didn't read the first release of this book, as I would have been royally annoyed that he had been unable to handle this softball. The author had opportunities, considerable social support and social capitol, and mentors. People stepped in every time he stumbled. The other Wes Moore had none of these.

The author acknowledged all of these in this edition, but he also pointed to the power of stories in changing the current of our lives.

By establishing himself as the protagonist of his own story, [Colin Powell's memoir] inspired me and countless other young people to see ourselves as capable of taking control of our own destinies, and to realize how each decision we make determines the course of our life stories.

Yes, the opportunities, considerable social support and social resources, and mentors made it easier to tell a good story that would take the author around the world. The lack of these made it easy for the other Wes Moore to conclude that his future was grim and hopeless, that he didn't matter.

Let's help each other tell good stories.
...more

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Jun 14, 2010 Katrina rated it liked it

I was skeptical in even choosing this book to read. I didn't know what Moore's politics were going to be like. Was this going to be another "I-made-it-so-you-can-too" book? I mean, where can you go when you're comparing yourself to someone who "didn't make it"? Thankfully, I think it digs deeper than that, but not as deeply as I think it could have. Certainly Moore recognizes that many people were influential in his success--one glance at his acknowledgments shows that-- but what about the money ...more

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About Wes Moore

Wes Moore

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Wes Moore is a youth advocate, Army combat veteran, promising business leader and author.

Wes graduated Phi Theta Kappa as a commissioned officer from Valley Forge Military College in 1998 and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. At Johns Hopkins he was honored by the Maryland College Football Hall of Fame Wes Moore is a youth advocate, Army combat veteran, promising business leader and author.

Wes graduated Phi Theta Kappa as a commissioned officer from Valley Forge Military College in 1998 and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. At Johns Hopkins he was honored by the Maryland College Football Hall of Fame. He completed an MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 2004. Wes was a paratrooper and Captain in the United States Army, serving a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan with the elite 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division in 2005–2006. Wes spearheaded the American strategic support plan for the Afghan Reconciliation Program that unites former insurgents with the new Afghan Government. He is recognized as an authority on the rise and ramifications of radical Islamism in the Western Hemisphere. A White House Fellow from 2006–2007, Wes served as a Special Assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Following his time at the White House, Wes became an investment professional in New York at Citigroup, focusing on global technology and alternative investments. In 2009 he was selected as an Asia Society Fellow. Moore was named one of Ebony magazine’s “Top 30 Leaders Under 30” for 2007 and Crain’s New York Business’ “40 Under 40 Rising Stars” in 2009.

Wes is passionate about supporting U.S. veterans and examining the roles education, mentoring and public service play in the lives of American youth. He serves on the board of the Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and founded an organization called STAND! through Johns Hopkins that works with Baltimore youth involved in the criminal justice system. Wes was a featured speaker at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver and addressed the crowd from Invesco Field. He has also spoken at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Business Plan Competition, Southern Regional Conference of the National Society of Educators, the education reform session of the third annual Race & Reconciliation in America conference, and the first 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.

He has been featured by such media outlets as People Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CSPAN, and MSNBC, amongst others. Wes’ first book, The Other Wes Moore, will be published by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of Random House, in late April 2010.

Wes Moore was born in 1978 and was three years old when his father, a respected radio and television host, died in front of him. His mother, hoping for a better future for her family, made great sacrifices to send Wes and his sisters to private school. Caught between two worlds—the affluence of his classmates and the struggles of his neighbors—Wes began to act out, succumbing to bad grades, suspensions, and delinquencies. Desperate to reverse his behavior, his mother sent him to military school in Pennsylvania. After trying to escape five times, Wes finally decided to stop railing against the system and become accountable for his actions. By graduation six years later, Moore was company commander overseeing 125 cadets.

On December 11, 2000, The Baltimore Sun ran an article about how Wes, despite his troubled childhood, had just received The Rhodes Scholarship. At the same time, The Sun was running stories —eventually more than 100 in all—about four African-American men who were arrested for the murder of an off-duty Baltimore police officer d ...more

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“The choices we make about the lives we live determine the kinds of legacies we leave.” — 74 likes

“When it is time for you to leave this school, leave your job, or even leave this earth, you make sure you have worked hard to make sure it mattered you were even here.” — 59 likes

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