Life After Death
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4.6 • 112 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The true story of the wrongful conviction of the infamous West Memphis Three, Life After Death is a powerful and unflinching first-person account of life on death row.
In 1993 three teenagers, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley Jr were arrested and charged with the murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. The ensuing trial was rife with inconsistencies, false testimony and superstition. Echols was accused of, among other things, practising witchcraft and satanic rituals—a result of the "satanic panic" prevalent in the media at the time. Baldwin and Miskelley were sentenced to life in prison. Echols, deemed the ringleader, was sentenced to death. He was eighteen years old.
In a shocking reversal of events, all three were suddenly released in August 2011.
This is Damien Echols' story in full: from abuses by prison guards and wardens, to descriptions of inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane for nearly two decades. Echols also writes about his complicated and painful childhood. Like Dead Man Walking, Life After Death is destined to be a classic.
The West Memphis Three are the subject of Paradise Lost, a three-part documentary series produced by HBO, and West of Memphis, a documentary produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh.
Damien Echols was born in 1974 and grew up in Mississippi, Tennessee, Maryland, Oregon, and Arkansas. At age eighteen he was falsely convicted, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr – afterwards known as the West Memphis Three – in the case known as the Robin Hood Hill murders. Echols received the death sentence and spent eighteen years on Death Row. In 2011, together with Baldwin and Misskelley, he was released in an agreement with the state of Arkansas known as the Alford plea. Echols is the author of a self-published memoir titled Almost Home. He and his wife, Lorri Davis, live in New York City.
textpublishing.com.au
'Damien Echols suffered a shocking miscarriage of justice. A nightmare few could endure. An innocent man on death row for more than eighteen years, abused by the very system we all fund. His story will appall, fascinate, and render you feeble with tears and laughter. A brilliant memoir to battle with literary giants of the calibre of Jean Genet, Gregory David Roberts, and Dostoevsky.' Johnny Depp
'This is a stunning piece of work. Such hope while faced with injustice. Damien teaches us how to live.' Eddie Vedder
'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.' Peter Jackson, Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter
'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.' Henry Rollins
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wrongly convicted at 18 along with two other teenagers and sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Ark., Echols spent nearly two decades in prison before being released in August 2011. In this searing, finely wrought memoir, Echols recalls his poverty-stricken childhood, the trial of the West Memphis 3, and the harsh realities of life on death row. Sent there in 1994, Echols journaled consistently, though many notebooks were destroyed by guards. Echols describes death row as the equivalent of solitary confinement, his only human contact the infrequently allowed visitors from the outside world. Even sunlight and fresh air were denied at Varner Super Max, the facility he was transferred to in 2003. Echols recalls his less than ideal home life, with a mother who cultivated drama and a stepfather he despised (the feeling seems to have been mutual). The most affecting sections are Echols's philosophical musings on all he has lost, his thoughts often influenced by Zen Buddhism. In one journal entry that survived the guards' purge, Echols contemplates what he misses the most while in prison. The answer is a heart-wrenching and simple commentary on American prison life: "In the end it's not the fruit I miss most... I miss being treated like a human being."
Customer Reviews
Powerful autobiography.
I remember the documentaries that brought this massive miscarriage of justice against the three young teenagers which made up the Memphis Three. I have followed this macabre and sorry story over the years and was exhilarated when I heard these three young men released from jail. As soon as I read a article about this book in the weekend paper I bought the book straight away. Having read more than half the book now I just had to stop and write a quick review. As stated in my title this is a powerful autobiography of a young man who had his youth robbed, innocent taken away and condemned by so call men of law for a crime he did not commit. Damian tells it as it is and bares his soul to the reader. I could not put the book down but had to help this young man get some recognition and profit for the injustice deal to him so cruelly by a society that prides itself for equality and freedom. Buy this book. You won't be disappointed. Now, it's back to finishing the rest of the book.
Price?
Why is it $9.99usd ($9.75aud) in the us store but $19.99aud in the Australian store?
A deep discovery
I bought this hoping to find out more about Damien's time in death row.
The stories he told were of so much more than just appalling conditions and the lack of common niceties. Instead, he spoke of the spiritual consciousness he learnt to develop whilst inside and just how painful things like hope and wanting can be while locked away.
It also covers off his poor, tedious upbringing, the events that lead to his "conviction" and life after death row.
A great book for anyone who has followed the case of the Robin Hills Murders.