Living Justice: Love, Freedom, and the Making of the Exonerated

by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank

Book Overview

A love story. An artistic journey. A matter of life and death... In 2000, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen embarked on a tour across America -- one that would give them a glimpse of the darker side of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743483456
• ISBN13: 9780743483452
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Edgy Brilliance, Gritty Passion!

A fierce, brilliant account of a political, artistic and personal quest: two young people in search of truth and justice end up finding love and adventure and the harsh realities of America's dark side. Blank's searing intelligence and total conviction for her cause make this book incredibly hard to put down, even as the truths it reveals are often hard to take. If you have seen "The Exonerated," you will love reading the stories behind the stories on stage or film. But even if you haven't seen it, there is much to glean here about the kind of guts required to make a difference as an artist or an activist in the world today.

living justice, staging beauty

Jessica Blank's and Erik Jensen's joint memoir, "Living Justice," tells their story of how a desire to create awareness over an important--yet overlooked--issue in the American justice system blossomed from "Eureka!"-style concept into a beautifully realized theater piece called "The Exonerated," which has been performed all over the country and recently adapted for television, educated tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people, and cited by legislators as an important force in death penalty ethics reform. Their story takes them on a roadtrip across the USA, interviewing people who were convicted of heinous crimes they did not commit, sentenced to death, but ultimately freed and exonerated over overwhelming post-trial evidence of their innocence. The passages dealing with these cases are the most effective parts of the book: informative with the power to disturb and inspire, much in the same way as the authors's play. But there is more to the book than information on the death penalty. Beautifully captured in "Living Justice" is the story of two actors and activists who find love and home within their collaboration, who discover what it feels like to make a change in the world and be reminded of that change in moving and affirming ways. The book is a must-read for fans of the play and students of the theater. The downtown NYC performance scene comes alive in the chapter about the play's opening night and subsequent celebrity-filled run at the Culture Project theater space. Also amazingly portrayed are the days just after 9/11 in which the nature of activism, patriotism, and the definition of justice was questioned by the world over. Amazingly, Ms. Blank and Mr. Jensen found--through their experience of the play--that the USA is still interested in looking in on itself to consider its flaws and how to improve upon them. In that this definition of "American justice" has shifted in the past three years from a national to global issue, it's important to consider what methods all people (as non-politicians) have to instigate the kinds of cultural change needed to make this country and the world in which it exists a place we are proud to call ours...

great book, great voices: a very personal, compelling story

This is a great story. It's about two young people falling in love while testing their own and each others' limits, researching and writing "The Exonerated," an excellent (and very influential) play about the fascinating, tragic, and ordinary people exonerated and released from death row. Erik and Jessica don't stumble down the rabbit-hole of the American criminal justice system. They climb down it step by step, confessing their fear and confusion, and insecurity that they have no idea what they're doing, and probably have no business doing it anyway. The book takes the reader along for the cross-country trip visiting with and interviewing the people whose stories became The Exonerated. There's lots of captivating background on the subjects of the play, and the authors write passionatley, but also honestly and insightfully, about the politics of the death penalty in America.