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The Other Wes Moorer Reading/Discussion Guide: Home

This guide provides information about the book The Other Wes Moore as used at Queensborough Community College for Professor Carrolls' ENG101 2025.

About the book

Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same decaying city within a few years of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Told in alternating dramatic narratives that take readers from heart-wrenching losses to moments of surprising redemption, this is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation trying to find their way in a hostile world.

 

The Other Wes Moore
Uploaded on November 14, 2025
A story of one name & two fates: One boy grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison for felony murder. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.

All the Difference

Inspired by Wes Moore’s New York Times bestselling book, The Other Wes Moore, Academy Award®-nominated and national Emmy-winning producer/director Tod Lending has produced and directed All The Difference, a feature-length documentary film, and media outreach project, that explores critical issues and offers insights and solutions related to African-American manhood.

Filmed over five and a half years, All The Difference weaves together the stories of two tough, yet promising young black men as they navigate their lives in broken homes and low-income, high-risk communities in Chicago. Statistics predict they will drop out of high school and succumb to life on the streets; but both graduate and go on to college in spite of all the odds. After they graduate, the film follows them for another 6 months as they both find meaningful work in community service.

The film explores the factors in their lives (education, parents and grandparents, teachers, role models, personal drive and community support) that made All The Difference in helping them be the first in their families to most likely escape poverty and secure a place in the middle class.

Funding

The John D. and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation