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In Conversation with Ben Westhoff: Little Brother

Ben Westhoff, Little Brother

TUESDAY, JUNE 28TH, 7:00PM

The creative and original telling of a young man’s life and death on the streets and the Big Brother who sought his killer.

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In the tradition of such intimate explorations of race and inequality in America as The Other Wes Moore and The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, Little Brother is Ben Westhoff’s story of unexpected friendship, devastating loss, and a murder investigation exposing the realities of life in underserved communities across the country.

In 2005, soon after Ben Westhoff moved to St. Louis, he joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and was paired with Jorell Cleveland. Ben was twenty-eight, a white college grad from an affluent family. Jorell was eight, one of nine children from a poor, African American family living in nearby Ferguson. But the two instantly connected. Ben and Jorell formed a bond stronger than nearly any other in their lives. When Ben met the woman who'd become his wife, she observed that Ben and Jorell were "a package deal." They were brothers.

In the summer of 2016, Jorell was shot at point blank range in broad daylight near his home in Ferguson, yet no one was charged in his death. Ben grappled with mourning Jorell, but also with a feeling of responsibility. As Jorell’s mentor, what could he have done differently? As a journalist, he had reported on gang life, interviewed crime kingpins, and even infiltrated drug labs in China. But now, he was investigating the life and death of someone he knew personally and examining what he did and did not know about his friend and the place where he was growing up.

Learning the truth about Jorell and the man who killed him required Ben to uncover a heartbreaking cycle of poverty, poor education, drug trafficking, and violence. Little Brother: Love, Tragedy, and My Search for Truth brilliantly combines a deeply personal history with a true-crime narrative that exposes the realities of life in communities like Ferguson all around the country.

The Author will stay to sign books after the reading and Q&A session.

About The Author:

Ben Westhoff writes about culture, drugs, and poverty. His books are taught nationwide and have been translated around the world. He is the author of Original Gangstas, the definitive history of West Coast hip-hop, and Fentanyl, Inc., the bombshell first book about fentanyl, and he now speaks at opioid conferences across the country. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife and two children.

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