The Skies Belong To Us: Love And Terror In The Golden Age Of Hijacking (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
This fun and engaging book read like a beach-read novel -- that's a compliment. The stories of the early 1970s when hijacking was an almost weekly occurrence (really) are fascinating. I was a little too young to realize just how common and crazy the situation was. But the book recreates the tales quite well, especially the main story of two young lovers-as-hijackers, which reads like a real thriller. I had no idea how it would turn out, so I was riveted. Fun note: this is the second book I've read on my Kindle. I read it on the airplane ride back from Florida after Thanksgiving break. That was a strange moment -- when I realized (thanks to my son, Sam) that, yes, I was reading a book about hijacking on an airplane. Lucky it was on the Kindle and not a book that other passengers and airline employees could see! This is masterful, fascinating nonfiction. My favorite nonfiction has the ability to pique my extreme interest in topics that could, in theory, be covered in a few Wikipedia paragraphs. Here, though, is book-length coverage of a topic—with all the dates, historical facts, cultural background and other necessities that nonfiction requires—all expertly woven into a plot that feels almost like fiction. Koerner covers the Golden Age of Hijacking (a 5-year period starting in 1968) in which an American jetliner was “skyjacked” nearly once a week. He focuses on one particular hijacking: the taking of Western Airlines Flight 701 by Vietnam veteran Roger Holder and small-time weed dealer Cathy Kerkow. Their story melds the book together, their hijacking a perfect example of how the unrest of the era manifested in hijackings designed to make a political statement, elicit cash ransoms, or both. Given today’s TSA-laden airports, the snippets of the book about the commercial air lobby balking at security checkpoints because they feared travelers would take to the roads to avoid the inconvenience are written appropriately tongue-in-cheek. (“They’ll never submit to having their personal effects X-rayed!”) I wanted to call this one of the most interesting nonfiction books I’ve read this year, but I decided it’s just one of the most interesting I’ve read this year period. Highly recommend it.
What do You think about The Skies Belong To Us: Love And Terror In The Golden Age Of Hijacking (2013)?
loved reading this well-researched book...almost like a novel in its character development!
—Airlynn
sad sad tale of a pair of young confused people living in uncertain times....
—Bianca
