A review by thayerbowen
American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin

2.75

This book is interesting and well-written but Jeffrey Toobin comes off as an asshole.  He describes how Patricia Hearst was kidnapped from the safety of her home, held captive and ultimately ended up following her kidnappers to commit crimes. He doesn’t talk about findings of Battered Wife Syndrome or any of the research into why people in terrible situations don’t leave or cry for help. There was also a note I made about when Patricia aays in a private note to her lover “I want you so fucking bad” and described it as the rhetoric engaged in by her kidnappers.  A baffling conclusion.  Maybe Hearst was a scammer or an opportunist but I will not be reading further material by Toobin.