Lots to discuss.

Did Patty Hearst voluntarily join the SLA or not? According to Toobin she did. But back in the early 70's we did not know about Stockholm Syndrome, so is Toobin wrong? It was interesting to read this book and to bring back the memories of the 60' and 70's. One will keep questioning why didn't Patty escape when she had all those chances? But keep in mind John Wayne's comment at the end of the book, if one man (Jim Jones) could get so many to commit suicide why wouldn't one young girl be influenced by the SLA. Even though Toobin says Patty fell in love with Willy, but then later says by today's standards her sex with him could only be rated as rape. So why doesn't he think she could have been brain washed to do what she did with the SLA. Our group had a good and long discussion of the book.

You may think you already know the story of Patricia Hearst. I thought I did. It was a big news story back in the 1970s. I’m about Hearst’s age, so it interested me at the time.

I knew that Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and soon thereafter became a member of the SLA. Along with the SLA, she robbed a California bank at gunpoint. It became apparent to most adults around me that she was a spoiled rich girl gone way bad. She was eventually arrested and jailed, but she was then pardoned by, I thought, President Carter.

Read Jeffrey Toobin‘s AMERICAN HEIRESS, and you will know a lot more about this story than I did. You may even think that it is sometimes more than you need to know.

From what I can tell, Toobin just relates the facts of the case and does not give his opinion except to sometimes be sarcastic. But I was disappointed that he barely brings up the possibility that Stockholm Syndrome caused Hearst to act as she did with the SLA. That’s what she claims. So why not?