Kyle Phoenix Books 2018

Kyle Phoenix Books June 2018

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Liberation List (book) by Kyle Phoenix: The Price of My Soul


The Price of My Soul 

Devlin wrote this, her autobiography, when she was all of 23 years old. Had it been anyone else I would have considered it ridiculous, a juvenile pretention, but Bernadette Devlin was one of the primary fighters for Irish freedom during the tumultuous 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, and given how events played out, it is likely that she wrote this while fully anticipating that she’d be killed in the struggle fairly early on. Goodness knows, the British cops tried. She was shot 14 times, along with her husband, as she was sleeping; British troops had been watching her house, and yet were unable to prevent rightist thugs from doing this. She would later say that members of the British parachute regiment waited 30 minutes before seeking medical help in the hope that she would die. And so, it's not as if she had overdramatized her own role, or the value the British military placed on her removal. She was placed in intensive care, and lived to tell the story.Soon after her recovery, the author-activist went on a speaking tour, and this reviewer was able to hear her talk when she came to the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. Her intelligence, eloquence, and fierce, courageous nationalism left me spellbound. And yet, it was only recently that I learned she’d written a memoir over a decade before I saw her speak. I was even more amazed to find that it was available for sale, albeit used and fairly banged up; all praise to the internet. And so this time, instead of heaping praise upon the publishers, I will thank my youngest son for securing a copy for me at Christmas. It was worth the wait.





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