

The Skies Belong to Us
Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking
Author: Brendan I. Koerner
Narrator: Rob Shapiro
Unabridged: 9 hr 26 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 06/18/2013
Categories: Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, History, Us History, Modern History, True Crime
Synopsis
A shattered Army veteran and a mischievous party girl, Roger Holder and Cathy Kerkow commandeered Western Airlines Flight 701 as a vague protest against the war. Through a combination of savvy and dumb luck, the couple managed to flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars in ransom, a feat that made them notorious around the globe. Koerner spent four years chronicling this madcap tale, which involves a cast of characters ranging from exiled Black Panthers to African despots to French movie stars. He combed through over 4,000 declassified documents and interviewed scores of key figures in the drama—including one of the hijackers, whom Koerner discovered living in total obscurity. Yet The Skies Belong to Us is more than just an enthralling yarn about a spectacular heist and its bittersweet, decades-long aftermath. It 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.