The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates (2010) is a narrative nonfiction story that chronicles the lives of two young black men who share the same name: Wes Moore. The author was inspired to write this story because of this fact and their similar start in Baltimore, Maryland. While one Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison, the writer Wes Moore became a Rhodes Scholar and a best-selling author. Moore’s purpose in writing is to examine how two people with such similar backgrounds can end up with completely different lives.
The first section highlights that both Wes Moores grew up without fathers. When the author was three, his father died in front from a severe allergic reaction. The other Wes Moore barely knew his father. Both of their mothers worked hard to set their families right, but Mary Moore’s (the other Wes Moore’s mother) chances narrowed when her ability to finish her degree at Johns Hopkins University slipped through her fingers as she lost the opportunity to use Pell Grants. Because of financial difficulties, Mary had to move her family to the Murphy Homes projects in West Baltimore. There, Wes’s older brother Tony became a drug hustler while Wes watched, and it was there that Wes developed quite a temper. He received his first arrest at middle-school age.