The undeniable power of the true stories of six exonerated survivors of death row will engage your emotion, incite your passion, and envelope you in their search for the lost pieces of dignity and the lives that were interrupted. The Exonerated began its journey over the summer of 2000, when authors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen traveled across the United States, interviewing 40 of the (then) 89 former death row prisoners. They went as far south as Texas and Miami, as far north as Chicago and just about everywhere in between to meet the people whose stories appear in The Exonerated. The interviewees were from vastly different ethnic, religious and educational backgrounds. Their views on the world varied greatly. The only thing that they had in common was that all 40 had been sentenced to death, spent anywhere from 2 to 22 years on death row and were subsequently found innocent and freed by the state.