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329 reviews for:
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
Jeffrey Toobin
3.83 AVERAGE
329 reviews for:
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
Jeffrey Toobin
3.83 AVERAGE
The type of book I would like to write one day ! Though some parts were in arguably too much unnecessary detail I really enjoyed how meticulously researched this was. It was nice to read a crime book not about gore or individual lunacy but instead a crime that was influenced by the political context of the day, and crimes that had many components.
This was a fun and interesting read, worth it just for the last few sentences alone.
My favorite non-fiction of the year so far. Gripping as a thriller and seriously-researched without repeating the mistake of many non-fiction books of overloading the reader with unnecessary details. Very intelligently-written, proving its conclusions without bias or enforcing a pre-decided opinion on the reader. It is so rare to read a non-fiction book that touches on such delicate and volatile issues that is also so well-balanced, un-hysterical and quietly rational.
The story itself is simply crazy - a one-of-its-kind tale that has always intrigued me has turned out to be even more interesting than I thought, complex and multi-faceted. It is not just a personal or family story, it is the story of a whole era, a generation. It is a political, social, financial story that had multiple effects on so many issues. I swallowed it cover-to-cover and couldn't get enough of it. I feel I understand the atmosphere at the time of my birth, the early '70s, much better now, and learned a lot I didn't know. Absolutely fantastic.
The story itself is simply crazy - a one-of-its-kind tale that has always intrigued me has turned out to be even more interesting than I thought, complex and multi-faceted. It is not just a personal or family story, it is the story of a whole era, a generation. It is a political, social, financial story that had multiple effects on so many issues. I swallowed it cover-to-cover and couldn't get enough of it. I feel I understand the atmosphere at the time of my birth, the early '70s, much better now, and learned a lot I didn't know. Absolutely fantastic.
Growing up in the early 1970’s, I attended Catholic school and I remember including Patricia Hearst and her family in our morning prayers. However, we abruptly stopped including her in our prayers and I was never really sure why. Later on, I would hear about this case and that she had been “brainwashed” by her captors into helping them rob banks. Since this seems to be the summer of examining the O.J. trial with two television programs, it seems to be an appropriate time to read this book.
This book was very well written and although I had some idea of the outcome, I found it a little suspenseful. How would Patricia and the rest of the Symbionese Liberation Army get caught? What she really brainwashed? Or was she aware of her actions? I don’t think we’ll know completely, but to examine this decades old case with today’s knowledge gave me the impression that Hearst was not only aware of her actions, but that it was also a matter of survival. Does that justify her actions? It is ironic, however, that she ended up belonging to the bourgeois society that she had rebelled against in her time with the SLA.
I also found it interesting how much this case impacted our current world. I did not realize that the first time “live breaking news” interrupted scheduled programming; it was because of the Patricia Hearst case.
Whether or not you know about Patricia Hearst and the time she spent as a kidnapping victim and them domestic terrorist, this book is insightful and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book was very well written and although I had some idea of the outcome, I found it a little suspenseful. How would Patricia and the rest of the Symbionese Liberation Army get caught? What she really brainwashed? Or was she aware of her actions? I don’t think we’ll know completely, but to examine this decades old case with today’s knowledge gave me the impression that Hearst was not only aware of her actions, but that it was also a matter of survival. Does that justify her actions? It is ironic, however, that she ended up belonging to the bourgeois society that she had rebelled against in her time with the SLA.
I also found it interesting how much this case impacted our current world. I did not realize that the first time “live breaking news” interrupted scheduled programming; it was because of the Patricia Hearst case.
Whether or not you know about Patricia Hearst and the time she spent as a kidnapping victim and them domestic terrorist, this book is insightful and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The story of Patty Hearst has been told many times over. Her story became both parts fear and obsession by a society undergoing change. How could a young woman born from one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in the United States be kidnapped and brainwashed into the SLA?
Jeffrey Toobin attempts a retelling of the story. It is a daunting task as much of this information is readily available. He even competes with a feature film from Hearst's autobiography. However, it isn't the retelling of the Patty Hearst story that makes the work compelling, it is the societal context that moves the narrative. His two angles are the works of one of the surviving SLA members which were never published. His other angle is the juxtaposition of the violence of the 1970s crushing the hopes of the 1960s. The extra material doesn't create any more in-depth of a story, but the second angle provides a great context in the upheaval of today.
There is also a good deal of subtext in the work in regard to Patty Hearst. She didn't cooperate for this book and it would seem that Toobin took issue with this. Her jail letters to her lover at the time (which is new information) are not any more revealing than other material. Some of the supposition into her life before the kidnapping seem a little mean. He infers that she didn't want to be a housewife and in spite of the kidnapping and her involvement with the SLA, that's exactly what she became. That seemed unnecessary.
What can we learn from this other era? Toobin gives a great backdrop of society leading into this moment. He pinpoints the change from a changing society to a closed society. One can see things change from Johnson's Great Society to Reagan's War on Drugs in this book. The kidnapping of Patty Hearst put an end to public sympathy to far left-wing paramilitary causes.
Jeffrey Toobin attempts a retelling of the story. It is a daunting task as much of this information is readily available. He even competes with a feature film from Hearst's autobiography. However, it isn't the retelling of the Patty Hearst story that makes the work compelling, it is the societal context that moves the narrative. His two angles are the works of one of the surviving SLA members which were never published. His other angle is the juxtaposition of the violence of the 1970s crushing the hopes of the 1960s. The extra material doesn't create any more in-depth of a story, but the second angle provides a great context in the upheaval of today.
There is also a good deal of subtext in the work in regard to Patty Hearst. She didn't cooperate for this book and it would seem that Toobin took issue with this. Her jail letters to her lover at the time (which is new information) are not any more revealing than other material. Some of the supposition into her life before the kidnapping seem a little mean. He infers that she didn't want to be a housewife and in spite of the kidnapping and her involvement with the SLA, that's exactly what she became. That seemed unnecessary.
What can we learn from this other era? Toobin gives a great backdrop of society leading into this moment. He pinpoints the change from a changing society to a closed society. One can see things change from Johnson's Great Society to Reagan's War on Drugs in this book. The kidnapping of Patty Hearst put an end to public sympathy to far left-wing paramilitary causes.
I thought this was a really interesting story and the book moved right along quickly. It seemed like no one really knew what they were doing, the cops or the SLA. And Patricia seemed like a bored rich girl who got kidnapped, turned it into a big rebellious period, and then when she had to face some consequences, claimed she never meant any of it. I wasn't expecting the author to have such a clear point of view, like several times he would quote someone, and then just say, "Nope, no way that happened." And he was really judgey of Patricia, but then I started feeling really judgey of her, too. Like, come ON girl, stand up for what you believe in. After a while, I started to get into the author's judgements of everyone, like how no one could stand Bill and how much Patricia hated Jane Fonda. And then the last line,"She turned into her mother," was just one more super-sick burn on Patricia after all her huge public denouncements of her mother . This whole book is kind of a study of privilege in America, and how much you can get away with if you're rich and connected.
American Heiress by Jeffrey Toobin is a 2016 Doubleday publication.
In 1974, I was too young to understand the constant news coverage of the Patty Hearst kidnapping. I do have memories of the story making headlines for what seemed like forever. But, I honestly had no interest in the debate surrounding her guilt or innocence.
As I got older, I developed a curiosity about the case and hoped to find a book on the subject that would not have an agenda attached to it, or was slanted in some way. I wanted an in depth analysis of the events, told in a journalistic manner, which is hard to find. There have been countless books, TV documentaries, movies based on actual events, all telling their own version of events.
When I saw how highly rated and well received this book was, I thought this was probably my best chance of learning the real and unbiased facts surrounding the bizarre kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and the aftermath of it.
It may be impossible to write such a book without having already formed an opinion, or for one to develop once the task has begun. Despite his best efforts to keep to the facts in the case, the author’s personal opinion of Patricia is obvious.
Despite that, the book seems to have been meticulously researched, is very well organized, and is told with a clear, strong voice that commands the reader’s attention from start to finish.
For those, like myself, who were not old enough to remember the details of the case, or the climate in the 1970’s. This book will take you back to an era of violence and conflict that in our consciousness, we seem to have forgotten all about. In fact, only a month or so ago, I wrote a book review in which I expressed the opinion that the sixties were turbulent and violent, but once the seventies arrived, things settled down and the violence soon tapered off.
Toobin immediately challenges that concept, pointing out various politically motivated crimes, Watergate, serial killers and assassination attempts on the President, Jim Jones, as well as factions like the Zebra killers. The seventies was not all about dancing under mirror balls after all. In fact, it was one of the most violent decades to date. So, I stand corrected.
So, not only is this book about the Hearst kidnapping, but is also about the state our country was in during the seventies, which apparently was rather bleak.
I was shocked by some of the names that cropped up in this book, those associated with the Hearst family, but also those associated in some ways the SLA ,(Symbionese Liberation Army), of which I had never heard a thing about before now.
The transformation of Patricia Hearst, from being a nineteen year old college student, sheltered and perhaps naïve, only moderately rebellious against her parents, to a gun toting bank robber, spouting off extremist rhetoric, and back again, was shocking, jarring, and amazing.
The transformations she went through are very curious and the general consensus is that she was brainwashed and suffered from ‘Stockholm Syndrome.’
It’s impossible to argue with the facts, and the fact is, Patricia was taken by force, at gunpoint, while she was quite young. Living a pampered, perhaps slightly isolated life, she may have been easily molded by these extremist radicals, but there is enough doubt, based on the facts presented in this book to give one pause.
Although we live through the events of Patricia’s captivity, the trial, the aftermath and fallout of this eighteen month ordeal, in the end, Patricia Heart remains an enigma. It is my understanding that she in no way participated in or endorsed this book, and still lives a relatively quiet life, never again causing controversy or exhibiting any hint of violence.
Yet, I have to wonder if she’s ever expressed or felt remorse or guilt for her role in the deaths of innocent people. I must say, that by the end of the book, the author had me convinced he was right about Patty. But, it is up to you, once you’ve read this accounting of events to make that decision for yourself.
Overall, this is a very thought provoking book, which will appeal to history buffs, as well as true crime readers.
4.5 stars
In 1974, I was too young to understand the constant news coverage of the Patty Hearst kidnapping. I do have memories of the story making headlines for what seemed like forever. But, I honestly had no interest in the debate surrounding her guilt or innocence.
As I got older, I developed a curiosity about the case and hoped to find a book on the subject that would not have an agenda attached to it, or was slanted in some way. I wanted an in depth analysis of the events, told in a journalistic manner, which is hard to find. There have been countless books, TV documentaries, movies based on actual events, all telling their own version of events.
When I saw how highly rated and well received this book was, I thought this was probably my best chance of learning the real and unbiased facts surrounding the bizarre kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and the aftermath of it.
It may be impossible to write such a book without having already formed an opinion, or for one to develop once the task has begun. Despite his best efforts to keep to the facts in the case, the author’s personal opinion of Patricia is obvious.
Despite that, the book seems to have been meticulously researched, is very well organized, and is told with a clear, strong voice that commands the reader’s attention from start to finish.
For those, like myself, who were not old enough to remember the details of the case, or the climate in the 1970’s. This book will take you back to an era of violence and conflict that in our consciousness, we seem to have forgotten all about. In fact, only a month or so ago, I wrote a book review in which I expressed the opinion that the sixties were turbulent and violent, but once the seventies arrived, things settled down and the violence soon tapered off.
Toobin immediately challenges that concept, pointing out various politically motivated crimes, Watergate, serial killers and assassination attempts on the President, Jim Jones, as well as factions like the Zebra killers. The seventies was not all about dancing under mirror balls after all. In fact, it was one of the most violent decades to date. So, I stand corrected.
So, not only is this book about the Hearst kidnapping, but is also about the state our country was in during the seventies, which apparently was rather bleak.
I was shocked by some of the names that cropped up in this book, those associated with the Hearst family, but also those associated in some ways the SLA ,(Symbionese Liberation Army), of which I had never heard a thing about before now.
The transformation of Patricia Hearst, from being a nineteen year old college student, sheltered and perhaps naïve, only moderately rebellious against her parents, to a gun toting bank robber, spouting off extremist rhetoric, and back again, was shocking, jarring, and amazing.
The transformations she went through are very curious and the general consensus is that she was brainwashed and suffered from ‘Stockholm Syndrome.’
It’s impossible to argue with the facts, and the fact is, Patricia was taken by force, at gunpoint, while she was quite young. Living a pampered, perhaps slightly isolated life, she may have been easily molded by these extremist radicals, but there is enough doubt, based on the facts presented in this book to give one pause.
Although we live through the events of Patricia’s captivity, the trial, the aftermath and fallout of this eighteen month ordeal, in the end, Patricia Heart remains an enigma. It is my understanding that she in no way participated in or endorsed this book, and still lives a relatively quiet life, never again causing controversy or exhibiting any hint of violence.
Yet, I have to wonder if she’s ever expressed or felt remorse or guilt for her role in the deaths of innocent people. I must say, that by the end of the book, the author had me convinced he was right about Patty. But, it is up to you, once you’ve read this accounting of events to make that decision for yourself.
Overall, this is a very thought provoking book, which will appeal to history buffs, as well as true crime readers.
4.5 stars
the shootout was the only fun part to read - the rest was honestly kinda boring - patty hearst ends up marrying a cop?????? not cool
also noosha told me the dude who wrote this jacked off on a work zoom call..................
so all things considered i would say do not read this lol
also noosha told me the dude who wrote this jacked off on a work zoom call..................
so all things considered i would say do not read this lol
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced