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Despite the grim subject matter - imagine spending 30 years of your one & only life on Death Row for crimes you didn't commit - this biography has a tenacious positivity, due to the remarkable personality of Ray Hinton. The flagrant racism & prejudice he faced in the Alabama justice system was absolutely staggering, but he never lost sight of his own innocence & worth. His strength of character is nothing short of humbling. Eye opening for sure!

#Wardens2025 #Read2025

For anyone who‘s read ‘Solitary‘ &/or ‘Just Mercy‘, this is for you🤓

4.5⭐️ I really liked this book and it was an excellent read. #2025 #socialjustice #nonfiction #memoir

This book is a heartbreaking, infuriating and powerful memoir of one man‘s time on death row in AL for thirty years. Thirty years of his life that were stolen from him, for crimes he did not commit. It‘s an up close look at poverty, racism, and a deeply broken system that was never right from the start. Bryan Stevenson of EJI fought like hell to get Anthony‘s freedom, against all odds and with no cooperation or care from the state. Had it not⬇️

I carry scars that only Lester and Bryan really see. I document every day of my life. I get receipts. I purposefully walk in front of security cameras. I don‘t like to stay home for too long without calling a few people to tell them what I‘m doing. I always call someone and say goodnight. It‘s not that I‘m lonely or that I‘m afraid to be alone. In many ways, I prefer to be alone. I create an alibi for every single day of my life. ⬇️

I was at work. I didn‘t try to rob and kill anyone. I was at work where a guard had to clock me in and clock me out. They told me it didn‘t matter that it wasn‘t me. They told me that a white man was going to say that I did it and that‘s all it would take. I was going to be guilty because I was going to have a white jury and a white judge and a white prosecutor. My defense attorney wasn‘t paid nothing. He couldn‘t get money for an expert.⬇️

Although I read a bit more nonfiction than normal it really fell off the last quarter or so of the year. I have some good choices to explore on my #AuldLangSpine list so hoping to have a stronger NF year.

#2023ReafingBracket #NonFiction

In love with this list, @Deblovestoread ‘s reading taste, and @monalyisha ‘s keen ability to match readers for #AuldLangSpine ! The checked ones I‘ve read and loved, and I plan to get to a good number of the rest in January, and maybe all of them throughout the year. This is so much fun already! 😁

30 book recommendations in 30 days...

Day 24: An amazing memoir. Truly horrific injustice and a situation that demonstrates so many of the issues within the criminal justice system (and society in general), which would reasonably have made most people angry, bitter, and set on revenge, or just plain lashing out. Yet Anthony Ray Hinton was able to retain hope, goodness & light, and we all could learn from him. Great on audio. #30recsin30days

#Booked23 #WrongfullyIncarcerated

I am blown away by how Ray Hinton maintained his humanity in the most inhumane conditions, how he found a way to shed light in the dark, how he chose not to let that dark overtake him when it would have been so easy to let hate rule. America, it hurts my heart that we are still so broken. That any one of us would condemn a man to death based on the color of his skin is unconscionable. 5 🌟

This book is a combination of incredibly frustrating and inspiring at the same time. I am amazed that someone could go through 30 years on death row due to a wrongful conviction and stay as positive and determined as Ray was able to do.
Audio duration: 7 hours 55 minutes

*I received this #audiobook through the Libro.fm Educator #ALC program. #Librofm

#nonfiction #YRE

This is very good. An innocent man spends 30 years on death row. He's very positive despite his awful situation.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

@Soubhiville thank you so much for including this in my #AuthorAMonth package. Such a great book.

This is excellent - an eye opening account of the author‘s wrongful conviction and imprisonment on death row. It‘s heartbreaking but also hopeful. I recommend reading Just Mercy first - it would help you appreciate this more I think. Highly recommend!

😍😍😍 @Soubhiville Thank you, thank you, thank you!

#AuthorAMonth

Ouf! What a story, took me a while to finish, it was hard to read. Thank you Anthony for sharing your life with us readers. How could an innocent man lose all his life in prison and the only crime he committed was being black. One of my best read of 2022.

The more I read and find myself in another's shoes the more disheartened I am with the flawed human race, the flawed governing bodies, and the flawed institutions in place in our societies. I don't think I would have been as optimistic as Anthony Hinton, after being let down again and again. Truly a memoir everyone needs to read, made even more real after reading The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist (Radley Balko) earlier this year.

5/5 Excellent! Hinton shares how he spent 30 years of his life in death row in Alabama for a crime he didn't commit, showing how weak the case against him was, and how he was set up. He also shares how he managed to keep hope, and survive, but also how this dreadful experience keeps on shaping his daily life. It is a must read!

Powerful book. Easy to read because it was so full of Mr. Hinton‘s personality. Hard to read because it‘s so hard to believe. Thankfully it ended well—but it took 30 years. Highly encourage this book to others.

A classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton‘s memoir tells his dramatic thirty-year journey and shows how you can take away a man‘s freedom, but you can‘t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

Book number ✌️ today. I'm on a bit of a non-fiction kick.

#AwesomeApril #BookNookBuddies2022 #ReadMyRoom #BookSpinBingo

Today‘s #ReadMyRoom pick (also on my Bingo card😉).

It wasn‘t until I put this grid together that I realized it would be Black narratives for the win for this grid with the tagged shining bright. Ray Hinton is light.

5* = Loved It, want to shout out loud about this book! I do/will own/keep a physical copy. A+
4*= I liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3*=Meh, no need to discuss. Average C
2*=Nope D
1*=DNF F

Just Mercy was such an emotional read that I had to prep my heart to return to the story of Anthony Ray Hinton. However , reading this injustice from his perspective somehow left me with hope. This is only possible because he is such an incredible man. I sure hope his exes - Halle, Sandra, Kim - stop by for a chat from time to time.

February 2022 #BookSpin. @TheAromaofBooks

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Incredible true story! Just imagine being wrongly convicted of murder and spending the next thirty years in solitary. The Injustice is poor man endured is unbelievable!
What an amazing testimony, despite all this he was able to forgive those that did him so wrong. It really makes you think what would you do in this situation? I definitely want to read Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson now.
#NonFictionNovember

This was fantastic. And really pissed me off! My #bookspin for June @TheAromaofBooks

My #bookspin and #doublespin for June! Will put my #bookspinbingo board together after work! Thanks @TheAromaofBooks for doing this!!

When I finished "Just Mercy" this week, this book was mentioned at the end. I took a look at my local library and I was lucky that the book was available to read. I picked it up and I am so glad I did. This narrative follows Anthony Ray Hinton, a man wrongly accused and sent to death row. It took decades before Mr. Hinton was released, and his story is powerful. Even more powerful is his drive to tell his story. 100% recommend this book!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wow! I'm glad I chose this to start 2021 with. 💞 He endured 30 years on death row and didn't allow it to break his spirit!

Day 5 of #12booksof2020

The Sun Does Shine is another AMAZING book I read (in this case listened to) this year. My favourite non-fiction of the year. Truly remarkable the hope & perspective Anthony Ray Hinton was able to maintain despite being in jail for so long for a crime he did not commit. A tale of hope, but it also details so many of the issues of systemic racism within the justice system & these made me so angry @ times I wanted to scream

I cannot fathom how this man went through all he endured and then managed to write such a hopeful, loving, forgiving book. This will definitely be in my top reads for this year. I‘m speechless.

An intense look at the American judicial system. What was done to this man and so many individuals is an absolute shame. An eye opening read.

This book was so much more than I thought it would be. I raged and despaired, cried angry, sad, and finally happy tears. Hearing about the systemic and racial injustices that kept an innocent man on death row for almost 30 years, was very difficult, but worth every second. Our system was, and is still, broken, but I hold hope that we can still affect change. I do wish there was a bit more about life after he was freed though. Still a 5 star read

This is a real life WOW. Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. He swore from the first moment that he was innocent and that one day justice would prevail. Justice came, but at such a price. Bryan Stevenson is a true hero, both men inspirations, voices for those silenced. Fantastic audio narration 🎧”Why does innocence have a price?” Our system is broken 💔

At the half way point....Thank God I know this book ends well, because right now my blood is boiling 🤬The systemic racism is sickening 🤯😢#PopSummer20 #BookSpinBingo

Such a good book!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. One man‘s struggle to get justice after being put on death row for crimes he did not commit. I am in awe of his perseverance and how he used his time in prison.

This book was just so good. I am not sure how Ray Hinton remains so upbeat after losing 30 years of his life after wrongly being incarcerated on death row. His tale is tragic, and it definitely adds to the argument against the death penalty. How can killing by the state be justified when there are innocent people on death row? How is it fair that money often determines the outcome? Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy) is a treasure.

Just Mercy is getting a lot of attention, but this book is the memoir of the falsely accused man, rather than his lawyer. Hinton reflects on his 30 years on death row for a crime he didn‘t commit. This book is a heartbreaking but very real account racism in the justice system. Despite everything, Hinton holds up love, forgiveness, and hope.

Two must-read books to understand how broken the judicial system is and how the right to a fair trial does not apply if you are not white. The Sun Does Shine chronicles a man who spent 28 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect shines a light on police brutality and makes a great case for #defundthepolice

#BiblioMAYnia @OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#SunOnCover

35: The autobiographical account of one innocent man's time spent on death row--30 years. This book educates about the shortcomings of our legal system, the inhumane conditions on death row and in prisons everywhere, and, through eliciting feelings of compassion and sympathy, it posits that the death penalty is never humane. You will cry, and you will feel called to help. A beautiful man with a beautiful story of hope in the face of despair.

A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit.

#sunshine
#bloomingbibliophiles
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@OriginalCyn620

An extraordinary story of three decades of false imprisonment and the amazing capacity of the human spirit to still have hope, love, and belief that truth will prevail. Such loss and suffering and the failure of the justice system to address the mistakes and justly resolve the wrongs. If you haven‘t already read Bryan Stevenson‘s book, Just Mercy, or seen the documentary, 13th, those should also be on your list.

This book stole my breath away. So much pain, yet so much strength in Ray to be able to go through what he did. One of the best book I've read this year.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This started slow, but once Hinton began describing his experience on death row, the story took on a new existence. Locked up 30 years for crime he didn‘t commit, yet he and his phenomenally dedicated attorney Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy) kept fighting. That Hinton and his fellow death row inmates became an unlikely family is incredible. Our justice system is fundamentally flawed, and failed him on so many levels.

Freedom was a ghost that haunted us all on the row, but most of all we were haunted by a past we could not go back and change. Loss and grief and a cold madness that defied words floated in the grime and filth that we were all coated in. Hell was real, and it had an address and a name.

Death Row, Holman Prison.

Where love and hope went to die.

- The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton