You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
329 reviews for:
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
Jeffrey Toobin
329 reviews for:
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
Jeffrey Toobin
Easy to get bogged down in minutiae. Easier still to get all kinds of dismayed at the reminders that money can buy your way out of just about anything.
I listened to this as an audio-book and found it to be a very compelling tale. I had not been very familiar with the case of Patty Hearst and all that it entailed, so I was intrigued by this book and hoped to learn more. The author does take great care to go into detail and provide a compelling narrative from the start of Patty Hearst's kidnapping, through the bitter end of all the legal battles that ensued.
I would caution any reader to take this story with 'a grain of salt' as the author takes many liberties with dialogue and builds many interpersonal scenes from his personal biases. I don't know how the author would be able to know with any kind of certainty what actually happened while Patty was in 'captivity' or understand what motivated each member of the SLA's actions. None of this overconfidence on the author's part fails to convey an intriguing saga of the real-life kidnapping of an American heiress - I just wouldn't be so quick to label this as complete non-fiction. This book is captivating, and I found it hard to put down once I started - not being at all familiar with the story I was always keen to know what would happen next. This is a beautifully written account of events based in fact, but in my opinion many liberties were taken to fill in the natural gaps in the story line.
I would caution any reader to take this story with 'a grain of salt' as the author takes many liberties with dialogue and builds many interpersonal scenes from his personal biases. I don't know how the author would be able to know with any kind of certainty what actually happened while Patty was in 'captivity' or understand what motivated each member of the SLA's actions. None of this overconfidence on the author's part fails to convey an intriguing saga of the real-life kidnapping of an American heiress - I just wouldn't be so quick to label this as complete non-fiction. This book is captivating, and I found it hard to put down once I started - not being at all familiar with the story I was always keen to know what would happen next. This is a beautifully written account of events based in fact, but in my opinion many liberties were taken to fill in the natural gaps in the story line.
The stupid runs very deep in this story. Patricia Hearst was young and ignorant and self-centered; the revolutionaries were pretty much morons, or delusional at best; the FBI wasn't any too sharp...
The other notable characteristic of the people featured in this book is a marked lack of loyalty. That is, among the SLA there seemed to be cohesion – sort of, for some, sometimes – but Patricia Hearst's erstwhile fiancé Steve Weed seems to have been the weediest and weaseliest of weeds, universally despised (including by the author – and me). And of course Patricia herself turned on a dime, bending with whatever breeze most benefited her. Jeffrey Toobin's sympathies obviously lie with her parents, most especially her father Randy; it's natural, and I agreed, but it's also a little startling to see such blatant bias in what I expected to be a journalistic biography/history.
Toobin is the reason I requested this book, along with the fact that I knew surprisingly little about the whole saga. The author's name rang bells, and when I Goodsearched him his face brought instant recognition (if not exact memories of where from). But I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed by the writing; it tends to loop and double back on itself, and the repetetiveness gets a bit old now and then. (Cujo was the love of Patricia's life. I know. I know. So was Soliah. I know.)
It's a story of how the idealism of the 60's died ("Nixon might not have brought the Vietnam War to a close, but he did end the draft. Freed from the threat of conscription, many thousands of otherwise apolitical young people drifted away from the antiwar movement.") The sheer number of bombings in the country at the time is shocking in this day of modern terrorism; the world hasn't gotten more dangerous, in a way, but the danger now tends to come from different sources. Jaded cynicism seems to have been the rule in the 70's, and is embodied by the … I hesitate to say "heroine" of the story.
Patricia, not Patty, declined to be interviewed for the book – which I have to say, given the tone of the book toward her, might not have been a good idea. It reminded me a little of the book about Mary Decker and Zola Budd; Decker refused to participate, and Budd was given a far kinder treatment in the book. Toobin's attitude toward Patricia wasn't quite so blatant, but he was less than kind in places; where there is any doubt as to her motivations or honesty or level of compulsion, he tends to land on the side of doubting her.
There were some side angles in the book which took me by surprise. I didn't know anything about the "PIN" (People In Need) program that was initiated by the initial ransom demands, and the whole thing was disheartening. (For one thing, this Reagan quote: "It’s just too bad we can’t have an epidemic of botulism.") The psycho contingent connected with the project was surprising as well – I won't spoil it in case it's news to you as it was to me, but … gosh.
The book covers how the kidnapping came to happen, one version of the events of the long period of Patricia's captivity-slash-participation and how it all came crashing down, and the repercussions to all involved. It's not a great book; I'm not sure it's even all that good a book. But it was entertaining, and it's good to have a gap in my education filled in.
Lessons learned from this book:
—Rich isn't necessarily rich.
—Stupid is at least as scary as smart.
—Building bombs generates team spirit.
—Just because there's no smell of cyanide doesn't mean it's not there – you might just be one of the ten percent who can't smell it.
—Always know where your shoes are.
—Always know where your Molotov cocktails are.
And, most prevalent and most important:
—Change your story enough times, and no one – possibly including you – will ever know the truth.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
The other notable characteristic of the people featured in this book is a marked lack of loyalty. That is, among the SLA there seemed to be cohesion – sort of, for some, sometimes – but Patricia Hearst's erstwhile fiancé Steve Weed seems to have been the weediest and weaseliest of weeds, universally despised (including by the author – and me). And of course Patricia herself turned on a dime, bending with whatever breeze most benefited her. Jeffrey Toobin's sympathies obviously lie with her parents, most especially her father Randy; it's natural, and I agreed, but it's also a little startling to see such blatant bias in what I expected to be a journalistic biography/history.
Toobin is the reason I requested this book, along with the fact that I knew surprisingly little about the whole saga. The author's name rang bells, and when I Goodsearched him his face brought instant recognition (if not exact memories of where from). But I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed by the writing; it tends to loop and double back on itself, and the repetetiveness gets a bit old now and then. (Cujo was the love of Patricia's life. I know. I know. So was Soliah. I know.)
It's a story of how the idealism of the 60's died ("Nixon might not have brought the Vietnam War to a close, but he did end the draft. Freed from the threat of conscription, many thousands of otherwise apolitical young people drifted away from the antiwar movement.") The sheer number of bombings in the country at the time is shocking in this day of modern terrorism; the world hasn't gotten more dangerous, in a way, but the danger now tends to come from different sources. Jaded cynicism seems to have been the rule in the 70's, and is embodied by the … I hesitate to say "heroine" of the story.
Patricia, not Patty, declined to be interviewed for the book – which I have to say, given the tone of the book toward her, might not have been a good idea. It reminded me a little of the book about Mary Decker and Zola Budd; Decker refused to participate, and Budd was given a far kinder treatment in the book. Toobin's attitude toward Patricia wasn't quite so blatant, but he was less than kind in places; where there is any doubt as to her motivations or honesty or level of compulsion, he tends to land on the side of doubting her.
There were some side angles in the book which took me by surprise. I didn't know anything about the "PIN" (People In Need) program that was initiated by the initial ransom demands, and the whole thing was disheartening. (For one thing, this Reagan quote: "It’s just too bad we can’t have an epidemic of botulism.") The psycho contingent connected with the project was surprising as well – I won't spoil it in case it's news to you as it was to me, but … gosh.
The book covers how the kidnapping came to happen, one version of the events of the long period of Patricia's captivity-slash-participation and how it all came crashing down, and the repercussions to all involved. It's not a great book; I'm not sure it's even all that good a book. But it was entertaining, and it's good to have a gap in my education filled in.
Lessons learned from this book:
—Rich isn't necessarily rich.
—Stupid is at least as scary as smart.
—Building bombs generates team spirit.
—Just because there's no smell of cyanide doesn't mean it's not there – you might just be one of the ten percent who can't smell it.
—Always know where your shoes are.
—Always know where your Molotov cocktails are.
And, most prevalent and most important:
—Change your story enough times, and no one – possibly including you – will ever know the truth.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
You're a rich girl, and you've gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway
You can rely on the old man's money
You can rely on the old man's money
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway
You can rely on the old man's money
You can rely on the old man's money
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Classism
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, War
To start with I think the book was excellently written with so much research and background. I really didn't know anything about Patty Hearst before I read this so I went in blind and didn't have an opinion. I think Toobin did a decent job of hiding his feelings but it was made clear BY THE EVIDENCE that Patty Hearst will do whatever she wants and lie about it. This book is a great example of illustrating that the rich can really get away with anything. If you know enough people and have enough money you can literally rob a bank, shoot at people, kidnap a youth and get away with not only clemency but a presidential pardon(nice work Bill Clinton). This book is totally insane. From the SLA and their completely twisted ideas on literally everything to all of the mishaps of the police and FBI who failed to find them. I feel like it was one crazy thing after another and I couldn't believe it. I know it was a different time but a lot of it feels similar to what is happening in our world today - the discontent, the distrust of law enforcement, counter-culture, etc. but you could not get away with hiding so easily today. I felt so angry reading this book. I felt angry by what the SLA and the many people who helped them did(the poor woman who got shot and killed in the bank robbery), shocked(I mean Bill Walton was minimally involved) and mostly just disgusted with Patty Hearst and her entire family. I don't believe for one minute that Patty Hearst was brainwashed. I think she longed for an adventure and she got one and the minute she was going to be in trouble for it she happily took her place back as an heiress. Gross Patty Hearst, Totally Gross.
Didn't quite catch my attention as I was reading it. I had to go back and reread a few pages a few times. I may pick this up again later.
Well researched, written, and organized. Toobin provides a lot of insight and relies mostly on primary source material to tell the story, sometimes directly contradicting what Patty Heart herself laid out in her autobiographical account of her story. It's no wonder that she wanted nothing to do with the publication of this book.
The last ~100 pages were a lot less interesting than the first ~300, but I attribute that to the relative blandness of the trial and lack of really good insight into the inner machinations of most of the participants.
The last ~100 pages were a lot less interesting than the first ~300, but I attribute that to the relative blandness of the trial and lack of really good insight into the inner machinations of most of the participants.