Rising Road: A True Story of Love, Race and Religion in America - Inspiring Memoir for Book Clubs & Diversity Discussions

This book may be one of the most important published this year.The murder of Fr. James Coyle, a Roman Catholic priest, at the hands of a Methodist minister and Klu Klux Klan member Rev. Edwin Stevenson made for one of the most sensational trials of the last century. The murder took place in 1921.Rev. Stevenson shot Fr. Coyle in cold blood because Coyle's daughter had converted to Catholicism and had married a dark skinned Puerto Rican in the Church. The murder was a pure act of hatred and malice.And Stevenson was acquitted of the crime. The judge, several members of the Jury, and the defense attorneys were all current (or future) members of the Klu Klux Clan.The Rev. Stevenson was represented by Hugo Black, when Black was a young attorney. Black was a Freemason, and later a member of the Klan. I must note that his eventual career as a Supreme Court Justice is filled with many many accomplishments. I have reviewed his decisions and find him absolutely prescient. I think his constant stand for civil rights is to be admired, as is his brave dissent on Griswold vs. Connecticut, which is a case that set the precedent for one of the worse cases in Court history.But this brave career in defense of the Constitution, civil rights, and school desegregation was decades in the future when he took the Rev. Stevenson as a client.His defense of Stevenson was very aggressive, and played to the prejudices of the jurors.Fr. James Coyle by contrast was a Knight of Columbus and a chaplain for his local Knights council. He was an ardent defender of the faith, and a very brave man. For a Catholic priest in Birmingham Alabama early in the last century, the dangers were many. But Coyle was from a line of freedom fighters in Ireland, and was not the type of person to hide from the likes of the Klu Klux Klan. Every evening he would sit on his rectory's front porch and do his work there in the open air. If those who wanted him dead wanted to, they always knew where to find him.I too am a Knight, and I find great solace in reading about this member of the order. There are many parallels between Fr. Coyle's self-sacrificial life of service, and the life of service of the founder of our Order, the Venerable Fr. Michael J, McGiveny. Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism It is nice to see good historians write excellent books about these men, especially today. There are many priests out there in the mold of Coyle and McGiveny, but it seems we never hear about them. Seeing books like this published is as heartening as it is appreciated.I know nothing of Professor Davies background. I know only what I know from the book, and her faculty page at her University.She is a criminal lawyer and an expert in criminal law. The majority of this book is written about the trial of Rev. Stevenson and, as person who is a professor in the area at one of our nations finest law schools, Professor Davies does not disappoint. Her recreation of the case is simply magnificent.This did not surprise me.What DID surprise me was how well she told the story of the Catholic Church in Birmingham, right down to the liturgy. I do not know if Davies is Catholic. As a very knowledgeable (and somewhat traditional) Catholic what I can say is that this woman took the time to get it RIGHT. I had the sense I was reading a book written by a fine Church historian before the story of the trial began, and the sense I was reading a book by fine trial lawyer when the story of the case began. That is a degree of cross-competence that is very rare, especially these days. A liberal education is in many places a dead thing, a relic of the past. Professor Davies possess one. That is very clear.This is an excellent book. Not only does it tell the story of a brave man and good and holy priest, it tells the story of a riveting murder case, and most importantly, paints a very good and authentic picture of American anti-Catholicism on the part of some evangelical Christians. This is a legacy that has not entirely gone away, as books such as A Woman Rides the Beast: The Roman Catholic Church and the Last Days and The Gospel According to Rome clearly show. The at times murderous legacy of such hatred and bigotry should serve as a warning to us all to keep God's love and mercy foremost in our minds and hearts when dealing with people different than ourselves.