Patty's Got a Gun: Patricia Hearst in 1970s America (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

In this work, Graebner (The Age of Doubt: American Thought and Culture in the 1940s) reconsiders the kidnapping and trial of heiress Patricia Hearst in the context of psychiatry, media, politics, and popular culture in the 1970s. The book is divided into two parts: the first half is a detailed recitation of the kidnapping of Hearst by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, or SLA (an American self-styled urban guerrilla warfare group active in the 1970s); the crimes committed by her; and her trial and conviction. In the second part, titled "Reading Patty Hearst," the author concedes that no one knows why Hearst joined her SLA captors. He cites society's dismay with the chaos of the Nixon administration, the decline of the family, and the survival culture of the day. Patty's Got a Gun is a well-written, sophisticated speculation of why Hearst was convicted both by the jury and in the court of public opinion at the onset of the Reagan era. Readers looking for a livelier, more personal account should read Shana Alexander's Anyone's Daughter: The Times and Trials of Patty Hearst. For specialized collections.—Harry Charles, Attorney at Law, St. Louis, MO
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Review

"I enjoyed this ''retrospective essay'' on the remarkable story of Patty Hearst. . . . Graebner�s essay offers far more than narrative. It contextualises a story that �shocked the nation� in its historical context, midway between the permissive radicalism of the 1960s and a backlash that anticipated the new conservatism of the Reagan era. . . . Graebner combines erudition and scholarship with a sense of humour."�Jill Radford, Times Higher Education (Jill Radford Times Higher Education )

"What makes the book worth reading is not so much the first half, a compelling enough account of Ms. Hearst''s kidnapping and subsequent time in the headlines, as the second half: an attempt to put the Hearst affair in the context of an America struggling to emerge from the Vietnam quagmire and the ignominy of Watergate." (Economist )

�In that anxious interval between the twilight of the Sixties and the dawn of Ronald Reagan�s �Morning in America,� no story made the nation as uneasy as the crazy and ambiguous ordeal of Patty Hearst. William Graebner sheds new light on that most troubling story, and thereby helps us understand two nations: the terrified America that watched it all unfold, and the more assured and brutal place that it would soon become.��Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder (Mark Crispin Miller )

�In an era traumatized by defeat in Vietnam, betrayal in Washington, stagflation, and shockingly violent crimes, the saga of Patty Hearst�kidnapped heiress turned carbine-toting bankrobber�was perhaps the most shocking tale of all. William Graebner�s rich retelling uses Hearst�s story to probe one of the central preoccupations of the Seventies: the nature of personal identity. What happened to Hearst fascinated, and continues to fascinate, because it raised the question of what any of us might become in the face of extraordinary circumstances.��Thomas Hine, author The Great Funk: Falling Apart and Coming Together (on a Shag Rug) in the Seventies (Thomas Hine )

�William Graebner�s brilliant analysis of America�s struggles over the meaning of Patty Hearst gives us not only new perspectives on the 1970s, on Americans� fundamental understandings of their world in a bicentennial year that offered little to celebrate, but also on the longing for heroism and the desire for belief in free will that Graebner believes structured the rise of Reagan-era conservatism. This is a masterful work of cultural history.��Beth Bailey, author of From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America (Beth L. Bailey )

�In this work, Graebner reconsiders the kidnapping and trial of heiress Patricia Hearst in the context of psychiatry, media, politics, and popular culture in the 1970s. The book is divided into two parts: the first half is a detailed recitation of the kidnapping of Hearst by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, or SLA (an American self-styled urban guerrilla warfare group active in the 1970s); the crimes committed by her; and her trial and conviction. In the second part, titled �Reading Patty Hearst,� the author concedes that no one knows why Hearst joined her SLA captors. He cites society�s dismay with the chaos of the Nixon administration, the decline of the family, and the survival culture of the day. Patty�s Got a Gun is a well-written, sophisticated speculation of why Hearst was convicted both by the jury and in the court of public opinion at the onset of the Reagan era.�--Library Journal (Library Journal )

"Graebner conducts an intellectual history tour de force that will enrich the scholaship of this period, providing a look into a discrete but revealing episode that exposes the era''s most fervent concerns." (Bradford Martin Journal of American History )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226305228
• ISBN-13: 978-0226305226
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #444,114 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Suspect cultural history, October 24, 2008

By	R. M. Peterson (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army and her (apparent) conversion to their social mayhem undoubtedly fascinated many Americans who now are in their 50's and 60's. It obviously continues to intrigue me enough to prompt me, a third of a century later, to buy and read this book with the expectation that it would give me a comprehensive and responsible historical account of the Patty Hearst episode. But PATTY'S GOT A GUN is not nearly as detailed and comprehensive a history as I desired or expected. Instead, much of the book is devoted to arguing for the place of the episode as one of exceptional significance in the "cultural history" of the United States. This is a highly subjective, and suspect, exercise. By the time Graebner indirectly states, near the end of the book, that the Patty Hearst trial was a pivotal event in American cultural history on a par with the Scopes monkey trial, I have come to the conclusion that he has assumed and tendentiously asserted his thesis rather than proving or demonstrating it in any meaningful, rigorous way.

Graebner's writing style is choppy and wearisome. And his trendy word usage -- for example, "foreground" is used as a verb at least four times -- is grating to this reader.

PATTY'S GOT A GUN doesn't really deserve a full three stars, but it warrants more than just two stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read; insightful analysis, February 17, 2009

By	Gerald L. Clore "Professor of Psychology" (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Graebner has a wonderfully engaging style. The book tells the still amazing story of Patty's abduction, ordeal, and trial. But more than that, the author then gives a compelling analysis of people's reactions to Patty's story in terms of the cultural history of the time. His insights into the psychology of identity are sophisticated, but these sections nevertheless read like a novel. Graebner has an amazing ability to make the cultural analysis just as exciting as the kidnapping. I highly recommend it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Patty Kicks Butt!, February 13, 2009

By	Peter J. Miriani (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're looking for your standard retelling of the Patty Hearst saga, look no further than the discount aisle at your local Borders. If, however, you're like me and you want more than just a historical rehash and a few mug shots, check out Patty's Got a Gun. I've always had an interest in Patty Hearst and what she went through, but I've never come close to truly comprehending what her story meant until reading Graebner's book. The author's not only a master storyteller, but an astute interpreter who views the kidnapped heiress turned criminal through the eyes of a post-Vietnam America. Referencing works as varied as Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Graebner sheds new light not only on the events surrounding Patty Hearst, but on the identity of our country in the tumultuous 70s.