The Author (Bryan Stevenson)

The author is an African-American attorney, living and working in the Southern United States. He portrays himself throughout the narrative as being determined as an advocate for those whom the American justice system have treated, or are treating, without appropriate respect and/or compassion. He writes in his Introduction about where this passion, this career choice came from. First, there were his experiences growing up with a powerful awareness of centuries-old injustices perpetrated on African-Americans, including slaves. Later, he writes, there were his experiences early in his law school career, during which time his search for both meaning and focus in his work ended when a colleague / mentor led him to understand just how much injustice there was in the justice system, particularly when it came to African-Americans but also in the cases of others who lived, for lack of a better term, on...