Summer Reading Program

Bryan Stevenson is one of the country's most visionary legal thinkers and social justice advocates. A MacArthur fellow and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson is a founding leader of the movement against mass incarceration in the U.S. He recently served on President Obama's task force on 21st-century policing.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption is a memoir of Stevenson’s years as a lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal representation for poor people denied fair treatment under the law.  The book focuses on the case of Walter McMillan, one of Stevenson’s first clients, who was sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Stevenson also shares stories of other clients whose cases illuminate inequities in the justice system and the legacy of racial inequality.

All first-year students will receive a copy of Just Mercy at SOAR in June.  During Viking Venture, students will join their first-year seminar classmates, instructor and mentor to discuss the book over dinner, usually in the instructor’s home.  Bryan Stevenson will deliver the Conson Wilson lecture on September 12, 2016 at 7:30 in the Cage Center Arena.

For more information on this Speaker please visit here.

Recommend a book for 2017: The First-Year Book Selection Committee welcomes suggestions from all members of the Berry community. Please review our selection criteria.