William Radkay was an amazing storyteller and I felt so much internal pain as I read some of his words. To know all that he revealed about his early upbringing, his formative years seeing death in the face, his adoption and being cut off from his natural family obviously had everything to do with his defense mechanisms. He lived a brutal life not only physically but very much emotionally and I believe that he knew nothing more than just that. He even speculates that if he was allowed to live wit
William Radkay was an amazing storyteller and I felt so much internal pain as I read some of his words. To know all that he revealed about his early upbringing, his formative years seeing death in the face, his adoption and being cut off from his natural family obviously had everything to do with his defense mechanisms. He lived a brutal life not only physically but very much emotionally and I believe that he knew nothing more than just that. He even speculates that if he was allowed to live with his natural family how much different his life would have turned out to be. I felt that the book brought a very human side out, one that was hard not to like and somewhat understand, even though every crime deserves punishment, it makes you think beyond treating people in the way we do and maybe see them for who they are and what happened in their lives to make them become this way in the first place. Rather than this just being an angry rant about being victimized as a child, he uses this as a platform to say what was wrong in his life but yet, his foster parents did the best they could, even though they were far from saints. It was the sign of the times. The book was probably somewhat theraputic for him to put on paper and it's a learning experience for everyone else to hear his story.
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A very different look at Alcatraz then I read in any other biography about Alcatraz. It was from a man who looks life square in the face and new where he stood and makes no excuses for the choices he made.