Jarvis Jay Masters, author of Finding Freedom (1997), and now this latest memoir, has been incarcerated in California's San Quentin State Prison for the past 41 years. Oprah read That Bird Has My Wings for the first time in 2009, shortly after it was first published by HarperOne, and it left a strong impression: "His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today."
From the Publisher
Jarvis Jay Masters has taken an extraordinary journey of faith. Strangely enough, his moment of enlightenment came behind the bars of San Quentin's death row. Here, inmate author Masters takes us from the arms of his heroin-addicted mother to an abusive foster home, on his escape to the illusory freedom of the streets and through lonely nights spent in bus stations and juvenile homes, and finally to life inside the walls of San Quentin State Prison. He chronicles the story of a bright boy who turns to a life of crime, and of a penitent man who embraces Buddhism to find hope. His personal story dramatically reminds us all that freedom and opportunity are not to be taken for granted, and that no matter what their neighborhood, no matter what their race, every child matters.
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