Toobin, Jeffrey (Hearst, Patty)

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst

ISBN: 9780385536714
New York, NY, USA: Doubleday, 2016. First Edition. Hardcover. “On February 4, 1974, Patty Hearst, a sophomore in college and the heiress to the Hearst family fortune, was kidnapped by a ragtag group of self-styled revolutionaries calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army. The already sensational story took the first of many incredible twists on April 3, when the group released a tape of Patty saying she joined the SLA and had adopted the nom de guerre “Tania”. The weird turns of the tale are truly astonishing—the Hearst family trying to secure Patty’s release by feeding all the people of Oakland and San Francisco for free; the bank security cameras capturing “Tania” wielding a machine gun during a robbery; a cast of characters including everyone from Bill Walton to the Black Panthers to Ronald Reagan to F. Lee Bailey; the largest police shoot-out in American history; the first breaking news event to be broadcast live on television stations across the country; Patty’s year on the lam, running from the authorities; and her circuslike trial, filled with theatrical courtroom confrontations and a dramatic last-minute reversal, after which the term “Stockholm syndrome” entered the lexicon.” (from front flap) Presented here is Jeffrey Toobin’s (b. 1960) take on the kidnapping of Patty Hearst (b. 1954) the American heiress of the William Randolph Hearst media empire. Toobin is an American lawyer, author, blogger, and legal analyst for CNN and has published many books and essays, two of which (The Run of His Life: the People v. O. J. Simpson (1997) & A Vast Conspiracy: the Real Story of the Sex Scandal that Nearly Brought Down a President(1999)) were adapted for television. The case of Patty Hearst, perfectly condensed in the quoted blurb above, was quite the mess but Toobin does an excellent job of setting up the historical context and providing a detailed account of the kidnapping and its aftermath. A must-have for any True-crime lover and anyone interested in a case that was, and continues to be, stranger than fiction. From the collection of Barbara (1935-2023) & Irving (1933-2018) Nusbaum - world travelers, connoisseurs, eminent collectors of art & books, and the dearly beloved late parents of our esteemed founder, Arthur S. Nusbaum. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket: First edition as explicated at copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. Book is in very fine condition with some loose threads at top of spine and minor rubbing on front and back covers. Dust jacket is fine-very fine with minor bumping at top and bottom of spine and creasing around upper corners of front flap. An extra handling fee of $1.00 will be added for shipping due to the size and weight of this item. Very Fine / Fine-Very Fine. [Item #6774]

Price: $25.00