Surrender: My Journey from Guerrilla to Grandmother

by Katherine Power

In My Journey from Guerrilla to Grandmother, Katherine Power recounts the events of her dramatic journey from anti-war activist to revolutionary guerrilla, through 23 years of life on the run where she built a family that she had to leave in a dramatic surrender, serving a prison sentence where she found grace and meaning.

Now, as an elder, Power reflects on her inner journey and its lessons—how cultivating inner peace and practicing compassion are the foundation of powerful action for change in the world.

245 pages, Paperback

Published October 11, 2023

Reviews

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathy Power and Susan Saxe, politically active students at Brandeis University in 1970, joined with three ex-cons in radical action against the Vietnam War. They organized a bank robbery in Brighton, Massachusetts, during which one of the ex-cons shot and killed a police officer. Kathy was part of this action but was not actually at the bank; her job was to have a second car that the actual robbers got into after abandoning their getaway car. The three ex-cons were captured quickly. Susan was arrested several years later, after some time underground with Kathy. Kathy remained underground for nearly 20 years before voluntarily surrendering.

This book is her tale of her journey from anger-filled opposition to the war to violent action and ultimately to an understanding of her anger and acceptance of her responsibility for the death of the police officer. Her description of her life before college, her Brandeis experience, her life before surrender, her decision to surrender, her prison experience--all are told quite articulately and with humility. She describes her long process of self-discovery.

It's a fascinating story. A good portion of the latter part of the book discusses in detail that I confess I skimmed through the various experiences, people and books that guided her on her psychological and emotional journey. But I found the book quite moving. (I was somewhat disappointed with the end. She doesn't discuss the breakup with her husband or how she ended up living back in Massachusetts despite having spent many years in Oregon both before and after prison while her son continued to live on the West Coast. But despite that short-handed ending, this was well worth the read for me.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The revelations that talented chef Alice Metzinger, then working at M’s Teahouse not far from Oregon State University, was fugitive Katherine Ann Power, shook the mid-Willamette Valley 30 years ago. In Oregon, she was beloved. In Boston, she was reviled.

“Surrender” is her second book. Power writes thoughtfully and elegantly and throughout her chronology intentionally integrates the steps of her journey from reckless and arrogant 1970s militancy to penitent peacemaker. In many ways, this book is for her son and grandsons. And it is a record of the redemption and transformation she achieved during her incarceration through therapy, education, and soul work.

The family of fallen Boston Police Officer Walter Schroeder likely still suffers. This accounting by the woman who drove the getaway care for Schroeder’s assailant may provide them some insights but will fail to bring them peace.