num_pages: 384
description: On February 4 1974 Patty Hearst a sophomore in college and heiress to the Hearst Family fortune was kidnapped by a ragtag group of self-styled revolutionaries calling itself the Symbonese Liberation Army. The weird turns that followed in this already sensational take are truly astonishing--the Hearst family tried to secure Patty's release by feeding the people of Oakland and San Francisco for free; bank security cameras captured Tania wielding a machine gun during a roberry; the LAPD engaged in the largest police shoot-out in American history; the first breaking news event was broadcast live on telelvision stations across the country; and then there was Patty's circuslike trial filled with theatrical courtroom confrontations and a dramatic last-minute reversal after which the term Stockholm syndrome entered the lexicon. Ultimately the saga highlighted a decade in which America seemed to be suffering a collective nervous breakdown.
language: English
title: American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst
publisher: Doubleday