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
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
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.5 stars: I really didn't know much about the Patty Hearst kidnapping/trial beyond the basic story (and watching parts of a cheesy made-for-tv movie). This was an interesting read and really helped to paint a picture of a different era in the United States. Toobin had access to boxes of eyewitness accounts, court testimony, etc. that weren't previously released to the public. I think my main criticism was that he wrote too many side-story vignettes about minor players in the overall story. I read that his book about the OJ Simpson case was used as the basis for Ryan Murphy's FX series. Makes me wonder if Murphy is going to make a Patty Hearst mini series eventually too...
Intriguing story and good, tight writing, although I can never know how much is true. Its fascinating how current events can shape how we think about an issue; in this case, how Patricia Hearst’s case influenced our ideas about Stockholm syndrome.
3.5 stars.
3.5 stars.
Why I picked it up
I didn't really know anything about the Patty Hearst story. Well, next to nothing. But I only knew the gist of it because I looked her up after listening to Warren Zevon's Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner and being really confused by the abrupt shift in theme, during the last lines, from war torn, third-world countries and dictatorships to Berkeley and Patty Hearst, whoever that was.
Also, I just finished reading two of Toobin's books about the Supreme Court, and they were fantastic.
Why I finished it
I could hardly put it down. The story influenced and was influenced by so many different parts of our national identity: the American aristocracy and its ignorance of the poor and working class, the Vietnam War, the peaceful protests of the 60s giving way to radical domestic terrorism in the 70s, the rise of feminism, political bombings and assassinations, Nixon's fall, the oil crisis, Jonestown.
All of it such very recent history that exists in this sweet blindspot for me. It didn't happen recently enough for me to have any first hand knowledge of it, but it happened too recently for me to have learned about it in school as a kid.
What I want to remember from it
The 1970s was apparently the golden age for political bombings/domestic terrorism. Tens of bombs every month were set off by left-wing anti-government groups.
Technology advances that happened during this story: 1) few banks had video cameras! They chose the first bank they robbed because it had a camera and they wanted footage of Hearst to get out.
The next bank they robbed had no camera. 2) Live news coverage. The shootout in LA was the first news story to be broadcast live.
I didn't really know anything about the Patty Hearst story. Well, next to nothing. But I only knew the gist of it because I looked her up after listening to Warren Zevon's Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner and being really confused by the abrupt shift in theme, during the last lines, from war torn, third-world countries and dictatorships to Berkeley and Patty Hearst, whoever that was.
Also, I just finished reading two of Toobin's books about the Supreme Court, and they were fantastic.
Why I finished it
I could hardly put it down. The story influenced and was influenced by so many different parts of our national identity: the American aristocracy and its ignorance of the poor and working class, the Vietnam War, the peaceful protests of the 60s giving way to radical domestic terrorism in the 70s, the rise of feminism, political bombings and assassinations, Nixon's fall, the oil crisis, Jonestown.
All of it such very recent history that exists in this sweet blindspot for me. It didn't happen recently enough for me to have any first hand knowledge of it, but it happened too recently for me to have learned about it in school as a kid.
What I want to remember from it
The next bank they robbed had no camera. 2) Live news coverage. The shootout in LA was the first news story to be broadcast live.
I grew up hearing bits and pieces of this story from my mom (who is the same age as Hearst and also grew up in CA). So I always knew it was a crazy story, but my goodness, if you told me this was a work of fiction, I would have said it was too fantastically unrealistic and should be toned down a bit.
This story has everything, and the book is riveting. The author does a good job explaining the political climate in the 1970s, especially as opposed to that of the 1960s. I also like how he doesn't draw any heavy-handed conclusions about the central question of the book - was she "brainwashed" or not? Instead, we're presented with the facts and left to decide for ourselves. There is, after all, only one person on earth who can know for sure.
This book also made me wonder what a book written about, for example, the 2000s will have to say in about forty years, because I did some serious eye-rolling at the 1970s. So much of their political posturing and counterculture armies and manifestos just seemed so childish and naive. And pervasive! I was flabbergasted when, time after time, these wanted fugitives - who had already literally murdered people and continued to attempt to murder people - were harbored, transported, or given refuge by ordinary citizens. One perfectly lovely woman was like, "oh, I remember my father's time in the IRA in the old country. What the heck, I'll shelter these fugitives too." LADY. Get yourself to the police station RIGHT NOW. I just don't think ordinary people harboring high-profile criminals would happen these days. But maybe I'm the one who is naive.
This story has everything, and the book is riveting. The author does a good job explaining the political climate in the 1970s, especially as opposed to that of the 1960s. I also like how he doesn't draw any heavy-handed conclusions about the central question of the book - was she "brainwashed" or not? Instead, we're presented with the facts and left to decide for ourselves. There is, after all, only one person on earth who can know for sure.
This book also made me wonder what a book written about, for example, the 2000s will have to say in about forty years, because I did some serious eye-rolling at the 1970s. So much of their political posturing and counterculture armies and manifestos just seemed so childish and naive. And pervasive! I was flabbergasted when, time after time, these wanted fugitives - who had already literally murdered people and continued to attempt to murder people - were harbored, transported, or given refuge by ordinary citizens. One perfectly lovely woman was like, "oh, I remember my father's time in the IRA in the old country. What the heck, I'll shelter these fugitives too." LADY. Get yourself to the police station RIGHT NOW. I just don't think ordinary people harboring high-profile criminals would happen these days. But maybe I'm the one who is naive.
informative
medium-paced
Toobin does an excellent job of capturing all aspects of the Patty Hearst story.
I grew up in San Francisco and was in high school when Patty Hearst was kidnapped and tried. The nuns made us pray for her every morning during homeroom. I recognized many of the locations, people, and activities of that crazy time. The most bizarre connection was my encounter with Patty's mother. My class was on a field trip to the Hall of Justice during the trial. My friends and I were in the restroom complaining loudly that Patty Hearst was likely to be set free because of her wealthy connections. We were teenagers and loud and boisterous with our opinions. Out of the stall comes Mrs. Hearst. In a very dignified manner, without any eye contact, she washed her hands and walked out. Yikes!
Although Hearst was convicted her sentence was commuted by President Carter and she was later pardoned by President Clinton. The first person in history to have both - talk about the privilege of wealth!
I grew up in San Francisco and was in high school when Patty Hearst was kidnapped and tried. The nuns made us pray for her every morning during homeroom. I recognized many of the locations, people, and activities of that crazy time. The most bizarre connection was my encounter with Patty's mother. My class was on a field trip to the Hall of Justice during the trial. My friends and I were in the restroom complaining loudly that Patty Hearst was likely to be set free because of her wealthy connections. We were teenagers and loud and boisterous with our opinions. Out of the stall comes Mrs. Hearst. In a very dignified manner, without any eye contact, she washed her hands and walked out. Yikes!
Although Hearst was convicted her sentence was commuted by President Carter and she was later pardoned by President Clinton. The first person in history to have both - talk about the privilege of wealth!
Toobin is a good writer and the pages definitely turned (until the year of Patty Hearst living in random houses and not getting caught which was way too long) but I am not really sure why he decided to write this book since he clearly had a lot of disdain for all of the characters (especially Patty Hearst), and didn't try to understand their motivations or choices in any meaningful way. That combined with the fact that he didn't use the narrative to draw out any larger points or themes about the story left me with a lot of info about what exactly happened, but a large feeling of so what?
An informative chronological account of the saga of Patty Hearst’s kidnapping, time with the Symbionese Liberation Army, and trial. Toobin doesn’t spend much time putting himself in Hearst’s shoes, instead relying on interviews with other participants for what he thinks is Hearst’s perspective. Overall, I would’ve liked to see a more empathetic approach towards the principle figures.
Toobin has written a fascinating and incredibly well-researched account of all the events and personalities surrounding Patricia Hearst's 1974 kidnapping and its aftermath. He tells a great story, and this was a hard book to put down. Highly recommended!