Play Book Tag discussion

I've very glad Subdue the Shelf pushed me to finally get to this book - It was engaging and very insightful, I appreciate Wes' perspective.

Functioning essentially as a dual biography, The Other Wes Moore tells the story of two men with the same name who happened to grow up in the same neighborhood and under similar circumstance - two young black boy with no father figure in households struggle to keep their head above water. Both boys had run-ins with authority figures and the law at a very young age, but one boy would go on to be a decorated combat veteran and scholar while the other would end up in prison for robbery and homicide. How did two stories that started out so similar diverge so drastically.

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

Wes Moore - the author - observes that his family acted relatively early on and took drastic steps that reshaped his life. He goes on to postulate that similar intervention could have reshaped the life of the other Wes Moore - I agree! However, I don't believe any 'what if' scenario is ever that simple.

In my humble opinion, the author also greatly benefited from a family with multiple generations of higher education and everything that brings to the table - not only technical knowledge and skill sets, but the exposure to different people and ideas as well as the ability to navigate complex social and political structures. My husband says I think education is the answer to almost everything, so I'm clearly biased toward education being a strong influence.