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Publisher's Summary

In an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of the idealism of the '60s, 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, where they imagined being hailed as heroes; others aimed to swap hostages for sacks of cash.
Their criminal exploits mesmerized the country, never more so than when the young lovers at the heart of Brendan I. Koerner's The Skies Belong to Us pulled off the longest-distance hijacking in American history. 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.
©2013 Brendan I. Koerner (P)2013 Tantor
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Most Helpful
5 out of 5 stars
By S. Perry on 07-13-13

A very entertaining and engaging audiobook

What about Rob Shapiro’s performance did you like?

He was a very good narrator - perfect for this story.

Any additional comments?

This is a terrific audiobook. The narrator is fantastic and the subject exceeded my expectations. When I came across this audiobook I was a little torn because the title and description suggested that it would lean bit too much towards the story of a single hijacking and the two main characters, as opposed to a look at the dawn of air hijackings. But it was a perfect balance. The first 40%, or so, sets the stage, introducing the characters, but also providing great backdrop about the outbreak of hijackings in the late 60's and early 70's - something I was looking for. But it is told in a way that is interesting - not analytical - but conveying the atmosphere of the time. And then the author (and narrator) gradually tell more and more of the story of the two main characters - drawing you in to their specific tale. This takes up the balance of the audiobook - about 60%. . . and by this point you're primed to go inside the telling of a single hijacking. This is a very entertaining audiobook; it's not a heavy academic study - it's an enjoyable listen, providing the right balance of context, and a "what's going to happen next" tale. Oh, and it's the perfect length for an audiobook.

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16 of 16 people found this review helpful

4 out of 5 stars
By Kali on 09-06-13

The "golden age" of skyjacking brought to life!

Brendan Koerner has tapped into a fascinating piece of US history – what he calls the “golden age of hijacking” on US planes. Hundreds of planes were hijacked in America in the late 1960′s and the early 1970′s, and many planes were hijacked on the same day by coincidence. Koerner paints the picture of a time totally opposite of flight today. There was little security at airports, there were no bag checks, and passengers could pay for their flight after they boarded. In our post-9/11 world, envisioning this former era is near impossible.

The story here focuses on Roger Holder and Cathy Kerkow, a pair of skyjackers who committed the longest hijacking in American history. I felt the details of their specific story sometimes dragged here – Koerner spends a lot of time covering their pre- hijacking and post-hijacking lives. I began to lose interest with all the meandering details – other than the fact that they hijacked a plane, I’m not sure if either of these people lived a life remarkable enough to write about.

Where The Skies Belong to Us shines in its portrayal of this Mad-Max-in-the-sky time period. The sheer number of successful skyjackings from the 1960′s and 1970′s are astonishing. The young flight industry’s attempts to deal with security on planes while also rushing to accommodate the demands of each plane hijacking are almost humorous. The naivety here is remarkable – at one point, the head of the FAA discuss the impossibility of searching each passenger pre-flight. I found the variety of skyjackers and their motives to be more interesting than the specific story of Holder and Kerkow. There were a variety of reasons people skyjacked, and a huge spread of types of people involved, and many of the skyjacking plans were simple and poorly executed (yet often successful). As with the best non-fiction today, this story is too bizarre to make up.

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7 of 7 people found this review helpful

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