First published 2016
Jeffrey Toobin examines the bizarre 1974 kidnapping of Patty Hearst, a college sophomore and newspaper fortune heiress. The Symbonese Liberation Army, a small group of would-be revolutionaries, snatched Hearst from her Berkeley apartment. What followed defied all expectations. Her wealthy family attempted to buy her freedom by distributing millions of dollars worth of food to the poor in Oakland and San Francisco. Security cameras then recorded the shocking sight of Hearst, now calling herself "Tania," brandishing an automatic weapon during a bank heist alongside her former captors. The case spawned the largest shootout in Los Angeles police history and became the first live televised breaking news event broadcast nationwide. Toobin traces how this surreal criminal saga culminated in a circus trial featuring courtroom drama and stunning plot twists that introduced "Stockholm syndrome" to popular vocabulary. The author argues that Hearst's transformation from victim to accomplice reflected the broader social upheaval of 1970s America, when the country appeared to be experiencing a nationwide mental crisis.
Genres: 20th-century, american, crime, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: stockholm-syndrome
Setting: Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles
Period: 1974
384 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday
Content warnings: kidnapping