Hardcover

Published: 18th September 2012
For Ages: 18+ years old

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In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.-who have come to be known as the West Memphis Three-were arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas. The ensuing trial was marked by tampered evidence, false testimony, and public hysteria. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison; while eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the "ringleader," was sentenced to death. Over the next two decades, the WM3 became known worldwide as a symbol of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, with thousands of supporters and many notable celebrities who called for a new trial. In a shocking turn of events, all three men were released in August 2011.
Now Echols shares his story in full-from abuse by prison guards and wardens, to portraits of fellow inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane while incarcerated for nearly two decades.

In these pages, Echols reveals himself a brilliant writer, infusing his narrative with tragedy and irony in equal measure: he describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail. Life After Death is destined to be a riveting, explosive classic of prison literature.

A "New York Times "Bestseller
A "Los Angeles"" Times "Bestseller
A "USA"" Today "Bestseller
A "Wall Street Journal "Bestseller
A "Kirkus Reviews ""Best of 2012" nonfiction selection "Damien Echols spent eighteen years on death row for murders he did not commit. Somehow, in the depths of his unspeakable nightmare, he found the courage and strength not only to survive, but to grow, to create, to forgive, and to understand. "Life After Death" is a brilliant, haunting, painful, and uplifting narrative of a hopeless childhood, a wrongful conviction, a brutal incarceration, and the beginning of a new life." --John Grisham "Wrongfully imprisoned by willfully ignorant cops, prosecutors and judge, Damien Echols draws on all his wits and his unique view of humanity to survive eighteen years on death row. My admiration for him, and the strength of his spirit, increases with every page." --Sir Peter Jackson, Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter "I am in awe of Damien's ability to write so beautifully, with such ease, humor and honesty--this is inspired storytelling, a wonderful book!" --Fran Walsh, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, composer and producer "The life of Damien Echols is a journey similar to that of the metal that becomes a samurai's sword. Heated and pounded until it becomes hardened, it can hold its edge for centuries. It is incredible that Damien endured and survived one of the most tragic miscarriages of American justice, and emerged such a centered, articulate and extraordinary man and writer. "Life After Death" proves that he paid dearly for his wisdom." --Henry Rollins "Exceptional memoir by the most famous of the West Memphis Three. [B]are facts alone would make for an interesting story. However, Echols is at heart a poet and mystic, and he has written not just a quickie one-off book to capitalize on a lurid news story, but rather a work of art that occasionally bears a resemblance to the work of Jean Genet. A voracious

ISBN: 9780399160202
ISBN-10: 0399160205
Audience: General
For Ages: 18+ years old
For Grades: 12+
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 399
Published: 18th September 2012
Dimensions (cm): 23.1 x 16.3  x 3.8
Weight (kg): 0.658