Just Mercy
Ratings71
Average rating4.8
15
Ratings71
Average rating4.8
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a memoir by Bryan Stevenson that documents his career as a lawyer for disadvantaged clients. The book, focusing on injustices in the United States judicial system, alternates chapters between documenting Stevenson's efforts to overturn the wrongful conviction of Walter McMillian and his work on other cases, including children who receive life sentences and other poor or marginalized clients.
Initially published by Spiegel & Grau, then an imprint of Penguin Random House, on 21 October 2014 in hardcover and digital formats and by Random House Audio in audiobook format read by Stevenson, a paperback edition was released on 16 August 2015 by Penguin Random House and a young adult adaptation was published by Delacorte Press on 18 September 2018. The memoir was later adapted into a 2019 movie of the same name by Destin Daniel Cretton and, commemorating the film, "Movie Tie-In" editions were released for both versions of the memoir on 3 December 2019 by imprints of Penguin Random House.
The memoir has received many honors and won multiple non-fiction book awards. It was a New York Times best seller and spent more than 230 weeks on the paperback nonfiction best sellers list. It won the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, given annually by the American Library Association. Stevenson's acceptance speech for the award, given at the Library Association's annual meeting, was said to be the best that many of the librarians had ever heard, and was published with acclaim by Publishers Weekly. The book was also awarded the 2015 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction and the 2015 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Nonfiction. It was named one of "10 of the decade's most influential books" in December 2019 by CNN.
Reviews with the most likes.
Wow. I learned and I thought deeply and I cried and I was moved to talk about it to anyone who would let me. I've not seen a more reasoned and compassionate argument for change in our “justice” system than this. A must read and re-read.
The miscarriage of justice is unreal. If this book doesn't change your perspective and encourage you to stop talking about action and actually do something, I don't know what will.
Wow! What an eye opener! I read this for a challenge and I normally stick to fiction books but went outside my comfort zone to read this. It's hard to believe the difference between life in prison in NZ (which is not actually life) and life in prison in America!
This is an incredible and shattering book about the injustices of the criminal justice system. It is so incredibly well-written that it actually took me a long time to read because I would need a lot of time to digest after each chapter. The book is told in alternating chapters, with one chapter about a specific case that Bryan Stevenson worked on in exonerating Walter McMillian, a wrongly imprisoned man on death row, followed by a chapter about a specific issue in the justice system, such as juveniles sentenced to life in prison. Throughout, Stevenson's own humanity shines through. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time.
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