Bryan Stevenson’s award-winning book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, has reached a new milestone and has now spent 52 weeks on the list of New York Times Best Sellers. Just Mercy presents the story of EJI, the people we represent, and the importance of confronting injustice.
Just Mercy has won several prizes for the best work of nonfiction this year. It claimed the prestigious Carnegie Medal for best nonfiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the NAACP Image Award, the Cohen Prize for Best Nonfiction, the NAIBA prize for best nonfiction of the year, and the top honor from Books for a Better Life. It has been praised as one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Time Magazine, Esquire Magazine and several other publications. Just Mercy was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and the L.A. Times Book Prize. Dozens of colleges and universities have selected Just Mercy as their Freshman Read and the book has recently been published in German and Chinese with several other translations forthcoming.
Just Mercy describes EJI’s fight to end the cruel practice of sentencing children to die in prison, and shares the stories of several EJI clients who were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for crimes that happened when they were children. One of those clients is Ian Manuel, who was sentenced to die in a Florida prison for a nonhomicide crime when he was just 13 years old. Reprinted in the book is a letter from Ian to Bryan Stevenson in which Ian explains how much visits from his EJI legal team meant to him after spending more than 14 years in solitary confinement. “I capture and cherish those moments in time, replaying them in my mind’s eye, feeling grateful for human interaction and contact,” he wrote. “[T]oday, just the simple handshakes we shared was a welcome addition to my sensory deprived life.” Ten years after EJI first took on his case, Ian was just released from prison.
We are grateful to EJI’s supporters for their enthusiasm about Just Mercy, and thrilled that so many people around the world are now learning about our work. We hope you’ll order a paperback copy and join our mailing list for updates about EJI’s work.