Author Wes Moore was in South Africa for a college semester spent abroad when he first learned of another young man of the same age, living in the same city where Wes grew up, and with his same name who is now wanted for armed robbery. The author wanted to understand, with such similarities between the two men, why did one succeed so spectacularly and why did one fail.

The author was born in Baltimore, but after his father died, his mother moved the family to the Bronx to be near the support of her parents. Though he had a lot of love and support within his family, Wes started testing his boundaries — skipping school, hanging out with other teens involved in drugs. But he pushed too far and his mother decided to send Wes to Valley Forge Military College where the boy found discipline and also mentors. He went on to become a combat veteran, a Rhodes scholar and an aide to Condoleezza Rice.

The other Wes Moore grew up in Baltimore also without a father so it was to his older brother, Tony, that Wes turned to for guidance. And to give him his due, Tony tried to steer Wes onto a better path than the drug-dealing path he chose, but Wes didn’t have the education nor the parental support he needed to make better decisions. He eventually was arrested with his brother for an attempted armed robbery which resulted in the death of an off-duty police officer. The other Wes Moore is serving a life sentence in a Maryland prison.

If you want to know of one thing you can do to make a real difference in someone’s life, The Other Wes Moore is the book to read. The author makes it perfectly clear the decisions which resulted in the fates of both men but in case you need a hint, there is a 50-page Resource Guide at the end of the book listing organizations that help young people fulfill their potential. ~Patti