Hill Harper

Forget about the title. Hill Harper has crafted a fabulous book that will appeal to nearly all teens -- not just at-risk African-American boys. While the book speaks directly to African-American males, its smart yet cool approach to the problems that plague all teens, but particularly young people who are poor or members of a minority group, will also be a hit with girls and members of other beleaguered minority groups, as well. The language is laden with slang but intelligent, and both show more Harper and his extremely phat friends will make inroads where even caring teachers and parents might not. The book could easily have become sappy, but it never does.

Harper's inclusion of his celebrity friends and of full-color photographs of him partying with them might provoke some teen to read the book who might not at first been inclined to do so. It was another spot-on move by Harper. I am really grateful to him for providing young people with such a frank blueprint for growth.

Students who might be Caucasian and affluent will still love the book's message that everyone -- even handsome, successful TV stars -- sometimes feel lonely, have trouble approaching members of the opposite sex, and make mistakes.

What about straight-A students bound for Yale? They will be attracted to Harper, who graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude. The school's jocks will love that Harper was a college football hero. For the free spirits out there, Harper begins each chapter with a pithy quote from sources as disparate as the Persian poet Rumi, former President Bill Clinton, and rapper Andre 3000 (nee André Benjamin). Harper really has a hook for most of the cliques in American high schools. show less

I should have read the title of this book more carefully before I began reading, because I was expecting to hear more from inmates than the author. Hill Harper, Harvard Law graduate, actor, humanitarian, and all-around pompous advice-giver, certainly has a lot to say about a system in which he has never been locked up. But, after the first quarter of the book or so, I warmed up to him. Although I found him a bit pedantic throughout, he truly does seem to care about the disenfranchisement of show more prisoners in this country. He has good statistics and other information, and he certainly does worlds to help the particular inmate with whom he is corresponding in the book. Harper's overall attitude toward life is healthy and positive. I began to find reading his words comforting. He's definitely someone that anyone, inmate or not, would be lucky to have in his/her corner. I applaud him for bringing the issues of the prison industrial complex to the fore.

Harper puts quotes at the beginning of each chapter/letter, and there was one in particular I enjoyed:

"Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease, but an error in judgment." -- Philip K. Dick

As someone who used to overdrink/was a drunk/was an alcoholic/whatever, I appreciate this line of thinking. I never believed in the AA disease model. I didn't have a motor control problem; therefore, I could choose not to drink. And I didn't contract "alcoholism" from a bacteria, or a virus, and it didn't make me powerless. It was a negative coping mechanism I chose to use for a time. Not much more to it than that. show less

I should have read the title of this book more carefully before I began reading, because I was expecting to hear more from inmates than the author. Hill Harper, Harvard Law graduate, actor, humanitarian, and all-around pompous advice-giver, certainly has a lot to say about a system in which he has never been locked up. But, after the first quarter of the book or so, I warmed up to him. Although I found him a bit pedantic throughout, he truly does seem to care about the disenfranchisement of show more prisoners in this country. He has good statistics and other information, and he certainly does worlds to help the particular inmate with whom he is corresponding in the book. Harper's overall attitude toward life is healthy and positive. I began to find reading his words comforting. He's definitely someone that anyone, inmate or not, would be lucky to have in his/her corner. I applaud him for bringing the issues of the prison industrial complex to the fore.

Harper puts quotes at the beginning of each chapter/letter, and there was one in particular I enjoyed:

"Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease, but an error in judgment." -- Philip K. Dick

As someone who used to overdrink/was a drunk/was an alcoholic/whatever, I appreciate this line of thinking. I never believed in the AA disease model. I didn't have a motor control problem; therefore, I could choose not to drink. And I didn't contract "alcoholism" from a bacteria, or a virus, and it didn't make me powerless. It was a negative coping mechanism I chose to use for a time. Not much more to it than that. show less

I should have read the title of this book more carefully before I began reading, because I was expecting to hear more from inmates than the author. Hill Harper, Harvard Law graduate, actor, humanitarian, and all-around pompous advice-giver, certainly has a lot to say about a system in which he has never been locked up. But, after the first quarter of the book or so, I warmed up to him. Although I found him a bit pedantic throughout, he truly does seem to care about the disenfranchisement of show more prisoners in this country. He has good statistics and other information, and he certainly does worlds to help the particular inmate with whom he is corresponding in the book. Harper's overall attitude toward life is healthy and positive. I began to find reading his words comforting. He's definitely someone that anyone, inmate or not, would be lucky to have in his/her corner. I applaud him for bringing the issues of the prison industrial complex to the fore.

Harper puts quotes at the beginning of each chapter/letter, and there was one in particular I enjoyed:

"Drug misuse is not a disease, it is a decision, like the decision to step out in front of a moving car. You would call that not a disease, but an error in judgment." -- Philip K. Dick

As someone who used to overdrink/was a drunk/was an alcoholic/whatever, I appreciate this line of thinking. I never believed in the AA disease model. I didn't have a motor control problem; therefore, I could choose not to drink. And I didn't contract "alcoholism" from a bacteria, or a virus, and it didn't make me powerless. It was a negative coping mechanism I chose to use for a time. Not much more to it than that. show less