Better Not Bitter - by Yusef Salaam (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice.

They didn't know who they had. So begins Yusef Salaam telling his story. No one's life is the sum of the worst things that happened to them, and during Yusef Salaam's seven years of wrongful incarceration as one of the Central Park Five, he grew from child to man, and gained a spiritual perspective on life. Yusef learned that we're all "born on purpose, with a purpose."

Despite having confronted the racist heart of America while being "run over by the spiked wheels of injustice," Yusef channeled his energy and pain into something positive, not just for himself but for other marginalized people and communities. Better Not Bitter is the first time that one of the now Exonerated Five is telling his individual story, in his own words. Yusef writes about growing up Black in central Harlem in the '80s, being raised by a strong, fierce mother and grandmother, his years of incarceration, his reentry, and exoneration. Yusef connects these stories to lessons and principles he learned that gave him the power to survive through the worst of life's experiences. He inspires readers to accept their own path, and to understand their own sense of purpose.

With his intimate personal insights, Yusef unpacks the systems built and designed for profit and the oppression of Black and Brown people. He inspires readers to channel their fury into action, and through the spiritual, to turn that anger and trauma into a constructive force that lives alongside accountability and mobilizes change.

Yusef Salaam's message is vital for our times. Better, Not Bitter has the power to soothe, inspire and transform. It is a galvanizing call to action.

"Salaam's compelling memoir is one of astounding warmth ... This book should be read by anyone who wants to hear the story of the Exonerated Five directly from one of its members." ―NPR

"An important memoir and call to action that sheds light on the personal injustices of mass incarceration." ―Library Journal

"Warm, generous, and inspirational: a book for everyone." ―Kirkus Reviews

Review Quotes

"Better Not Bitter is equal parts, a luminous journey of awakening, and an indictment of a system that swallows boys and girls whole, only to spit out their broken bones. It is an urgent and poetic treatise on the human spirit's ability to make itself whole again over and over. I cried for the little boy who was imprisoned, and rejoiced for the man who emerged years later as a battle tested warrior for justice."

"An uplifting and hopeful book."

"Salaam is able to convey hope and humor while illuminating the many ways violence thrives. Better, Not Bitter is a wake-up call that urges readers to "dream again" and to recognize the ways in which they've been imprisoned--whether in a physical prison, or by racism, capitalism, health issues or other societal ills and injustices."

"Warm, generous, and inspirational: a book for everyone."

About the Author

Yusef Salaam is the inspirational speaker and prison abolitionist, who, at age fourteen was one of the five teenage boys wrongly convicted and sentenced to prison in the Central Park jogger case. In 1997, he left prison as an adult to a world he didn't fully recognize or understand. In 2002, the sentences for the Central Park Five were overturned, and all Five were exonerated for the crime they didn't commit.

Yusef now travels the world as an inspirational speaker, speaking about the effects of incarceration and the devastating impact of disenfranchisement. He is an advocate and educator on issues of mass incarceration, police brutality and misconduct, press ethics and bias, race and law, and the disparities in the criminal justice system, especially for men of color.