The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780307886118)

The true stroy of the longest-distance hijacking in American history.

In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of '60s idealism, airplane hijackings were astonishingly routine. Over a five-year period starting in 1968, the desperate and disillusioned seized commercial jets nearly once a week, using guns, bombs, and jars of acid. Some hijackers wished to escape to foreign lands; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash. Their criminal exploits mesmerized the country, never more so than when shattered Army veteran Roger Holder and mischievous party girl Cathy Kerkow managred to comandeer Western Airlines Flight 701 and flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars in ransom--a heist that remains the longest-distance hijacking in American history.

More than just an enthralling story about a spectacular crime and its bittersweet, decades-long aftermath, The Skies Belong to Us is also a psychological portrait of America at its most turbulent and a testament to the madness that can grip a nation when politics fail.

Author: Brendan I. Koerner
ISBN-10: 0307886115
ISBN-13: 9780307886118
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Language: English
Published: 06/17/2014
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.06h x 5.07w x 0.74d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 07/20/2014 pg. 32