Every Secret Thing

I was really surprised how well the book read. I expected it to be much drier and perhaps whiny. I barely remember the news stories growing up, but I do remember the Free Patty Hearst T-shirts and the ads in Creem and other pulp rock magazines. Her trial though in her eyes, reminded a bit of Meursault being tried for not crying at his mother's funeral and Patty being tried for what she did to the upper and middle class image than for the bank robbery... of course it is her story

A really great bio. I like that the action starts with her kidnapping before page 40 and the lengthy legal wrangling is summed up in final couple of chapters. This gives a lot of space for the broad scope of the cross country months of hiding underground, robbing banks, planting bombs, and being brainwashed. It is easy to see why her brainwashing defense was hard to swallow and it is an amazing case of behavior-affecting psychological trauma.

Patty Hearst recounts the tale of her infamous kidnapping and “brainwashing” by the Symbionese Liberation Army in the early 1970s, explaining in a factual, unemotional tone how she was converted from a rich, naive heiress into a misguided revolutionary. Hearst is not a great writer, and I was often forced to skim large portions of the narrative that I found simply boring, but the bumbling efforts of the homegrown terrorist group are fascinating, and the book does give an interesting inside glimpse into one of the more bizarre events in American history.

The classic account of a small l liberal rich girl, kidnapped and turned into a machine gun touting urban guerilla bank robber. Likely ghost written. And released to accompany the film which might save you time.