The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. Read by the author.

I was pleasantly surprised while listening to this adult memoir.  I remember seeing the juvenile of the book, Discovering Wes Moore, years ago, and not wanting to read it because of the cover.  However, this cover is more approachable for me.

Wes Moore is a successful black man who pulled himself out of a bad Baltimore neighborhood and created a successful life for himself.  Rhodes scholarship, traveling to Europe and Africa, US paratrooper, military school--Wes Moore was on a steep uphill climb to success.  Doesn't hurt when you look like him either (see pic at end of blogpost).

Wes's curiosity is peaked when he reads in the newspaper of a man named Wes Moore arrested for shooting a cop.  Both young men grew up in similar neighborhoods--how did they end up so different?  And so he began visiting the other Wes in prison, interviewing friends and family members, and the result is this book.

I never felt like I was being preached at, which is what I was afraid of.  Why did one man succeed and the other failed? Supportive family members? The one teacher who reached out? Through the telling of their stories, Wes doesn't make the judgements for the reader--but I kept noticing things.  As I heard about the other Wes Moore, I kept thinking, "Oh, no, don't choose to do that." I learned more about poor urban America--something I only see from the view of an elevated train in most cities.  This is a good nonfiction listen!

And usually I can't stand when authors read their own works--in fact, I usually shy away from those.  But Wes Moore has a voice like a professional--deep, smooth, and emotional.