"If there were a One Country, One Book program, and I got to pick the book for us all to read, this would be it. Stevenson's recounting of his work with the Equal Justice Initiative is heartbreaking, infuriating, and finally, as his subtitle says, redemptive."
Publisher Spiegel & Grau
Publication Date 2014-10-21
Section New Hardcover - Nonfiction / Law & Legal Issues / All Staff Suggestions / Nonfiction Suggestions
Format Hardcover
ISBN 9780812994520
A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
