American Heiress

Jeffrey Toobin is rapidly becoming one of my favorite nonfiction authors: his narrative flows clearly, he has swathes of original research and his analysis is understated but clear. Relatedly, I really liked American Heiress. I'm too young to have a personal memory of the Patty Hearst saga, so like many my age all I knew Patty Hearst was kidnapped, got Stocklholm syndrome, something, something, guest starred in Veronica Mars that one time. The tale as Toobin tells it is more complex.

This is a wide-ranging tale (over 18 months long) that includes the birth and death of the San Francisco counter-culture, the terrorist-style activism unique to the 1970's, tension with the evolving face of feminism, turf wars between the FBI and other branches of government and widespread distrust in the government due to the scandalous actions of the president. Reading through the “best books of the year” in 2018 so many of them are about These Dark Times in America. Toobin reminds us that other Dark Times have come before – in a lot of ways the 70's were worse because Nixon was without precedent. Anyway, the scene and context are set well by the time Toobin introduces us to Patricia Hearst (who hated being called “Patty.”)

Toobin then attempts to recreate all of the events from the formation of the Symbionese Liberation Army – which he paints as alternatingly bumbling and terrifying – the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, her involvement in the bank robbery...and then, instead of the story ending there, like I always thought it did, there are months of generally hiding out, followed by all of her SLA captors being killed by the police, Hearst hanging out with the remainder of the SLA who futilely try to send her back to whence she came, a cross country trek, more bank robbing and finally an arrest. Toobin then outlines Hearst's legal strategy and her ultimate conviction and sentencing. All of this, the footnotes make clear, is done on the basis of reams of contemporary notes and interviews. Toobin is meticulous about making clear when any events are at all in doubt.

The story is fascinating in and of itself. Does it speak to something bigger? Well, it ends with a a certain FBI Director Robert Mueller, III sending a pointed letter to then President Clinton arguing that Hearst should not be pardoned because people should be treated the same regardless of their personal wealth or family background.