A fascinating autobiography by Damien Echols, one of the West Memphis Three - teenagers who were convicted of murdering three boys in 1993 despite the lack of any physical evidence connecting them to the crime. The trial was a witch hunt where Damien Echols was portrayed as a satanist simply because he had an interest in Wicca, dressed in black, and listened to heavy metal music. Echols has been on death row in Arkansas for the last 14 years, and the most revealing thing about this book is how he has transformed himself, intellectually and physically, into an amazing man while behind bars. After reading this book, I want to be Damien's friend. More than that, I want him to be free.

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Product Description

Almost Home is a message to you from a faraway place. It is a message from a 12-foot by 9-foot cell in a cinderblock building surrounded by coils of razor wire in the middle of a dirt field in Arkansas. It was written by a young man named Damien Echols and it chronicles his life and his experiences in a way that clearly illuminates him, not as a monster, but as a human being. For over 10 years Damien has been an inmate on death row for a crime he did not commit. He, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley have become known as The West Memphis Three, and though the story of their arrest and conviction is widely known, most people don’t know the real people behind the sound bites and the TV news segment clips. Damien has spent much of his time behind bars diligently maintaining his integrity and his sanity by writing.

Almost Home is the product of that self-discipline, and in it you will meet someone who has survived an ordeal many of us would find impossible to live through. There are a few who still believe that Damien is a devil-worshipping child killer, but as time passes and more facts rise to the surface, it becomes even more clear that he is the victim of a peculiar species of hysteria. Read this book and know the truth about him. It is an urgent message from death row; the whole story of who Damien Echols really is.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73973 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

About the Author
A prolific and accomplished writer, poet, and visual artist, Damien Echols has found unexpected inspiration in his grim situation. He currently resides on death row in an Arkansas prison. Innocent of the crime for which he was convicted, Damien continues his fight for freedom.

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Customer Reviews

BEAUTIFUL
Amazingly intimate and personal reflections of Damien Echols, an innocent man currently enduring a deathrow prison sentence (Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley were also convicted and got life sentences). While the West Memphis case has been under a magnifying glass -- two HBO documentaries, two books written about the case and the clearinghouse for all legal information, the wm3.org website -- not much is known about who he was before the murders that resulted in his unjust conviction. And he does not disappoint. The bulk of the book concerns his growing up poor mostly in the repressed south. Fascinating and a must read for anyone who has taken an interest in the West Memphis Three case.

An Honest and Unique Memoir
The case of the West Memphis Three is an important example of how the poor suffer in our "justice" system. It is horrible when any innocent person is convicted; it is particularly so when the innocent is set to be executed by the state -- the same state that provided him with ineffective and inexperienced counsel, and put him (several times) into the courtroom of a corrupt judge.

The tragedy is furthered when that innocent man on death row is an intelligent and moral person like Damien Echols. He is beyond brave and his courage to stay positive and sane for over a decade in barbaric circumstances is evidence of his character.

This fascinating book is a valued insight into a deep and thoughtful man, someone I have come to admire greatly over the years.

Eloquent and Inspirational
I just received this book today and could not put it down. Despite having read and watched everything I could find about the West Memphis Three case, to some extent Damien Echols remained an enigma. This book makes it personal. Damien shares his story with honesty, intelligence, and wit. Although this tragedy has been and continues to be devastating to all involved, Damien perseveres with hope and grace. With all the hard work of so many determined supporters, I hope his next book will be about the release and vindication of Damion, Jason and Jessie