The Skies Belong to Us

Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

By: Brendan I. Koerner

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

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

This book is amazing.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A wildly complex and important story is told with clarity. The characters are real - not just because they're real people, but they FEEL real. I feel like I know Charlie Wilson personally, with all his (many) flaws and triumphs.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I'd have to say Charlie. There's something about him that just awes me.

What does Rob Shapiro bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Besides the obvious of being able to listen while I do other things to pass the time, this specific narrator was able to provide clarity to a complex story without doing any silly voices. His narration and pacing are excellent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I literally clapped at the end, while driving. I cheered. This book is amazing.

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.

A sleeper hit! AMAZING book:)

What did you like best about this story?

The author is brilliant in his unfolding of this crazy time period and his weaving in Roger Holder and his girlfriends successful hijacking in 1973 as a the eventual main storyline. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to understand these decades better, the political landscape of the time (visible through the governments reaction and essentially "do-nothing" attitude) and this immensely entertaining retelling of so much CRAZY drama:)

What does Rob Shapiro bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He intimates the subtle opinions of himself and the writer. Obviously anyone looking back on this period of history has to wonder how they could let this "trend" get so out of control! Rob Shapiro does a GREAT job at implying how ridiculous the situations are. Something I think the writer carefully let seep into the book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES!

Gripping story. Fascinating history.

A period of history I know very little of. I know the war. The politicians. The protesters. The major themes. Etc. but this was a whole new area of the era to me. Enjoyed it. And I think the narrator is outstanding.

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.

Forgot about this time in history

What made the experience of listening to The Skies Belong to Us the most enjoyable?

I was a teenager when the hijacking epidemic occurred and I forgot that it was that prevalent. Back then just like it is to a degree today, the airlines, if they are not forced to do something in the name of safety, will not do it if it will cost them money.

It might make you hate the TSA a little less....

If you have ever stood in line at the airport for hours waiting to board your flight and getting really annoyed at the TSA for all the hassle you are being put through, this book is for you.
To me the main story was incidental to the real value to be found between the pages. A sense of why we suffer such indignities just to fly, and maybe a little bit more acceptance in doing so.

I gasped to see the attitude of the Airlines during the time-frame this book covers. Having never flown during those years I was appalled at the refusal of airlines at first to do even cursory checks of passengers for weapons when it seemed every other plane was getting hi-jacked.

I felt the same sense of oh my God what were they thinking while reading this book as I did when I read "And the Band Played On" about the refusal of some individuals to close bath houses despite the very real and present danger of spreading the AIDS virus by not doing so.

Reading about the way the airline handled what became an epidemic of hi-jacking, to me showed the exact same self-serving attitude that was present at the on-set of the AIDS epidemic, albeit with thankfully a hugely different loss of life.

Worth the read, if just to get a little perspective.

Narrators should learn to pronounce foreign words

This is a great book and the narrator has a good voice. But he should have learned rudimentary French pronunciation before starting this project.

Overall - Utterly fascinating stories in here. Highly recommend.

A GREAT RIDE!

As a woman who grew up during the time of plane hijacking, I found this book to be insightful and entertaining. In the years before the advent of the Internet and cable television, we were given very little information about these crimes. I wasn't even aware that there had been so many hijackings until I listened to this book. And I can't begin to tell you how stunned I was to discover that the most successful hijacker in history was a BLACK man! Well, well, well! This book is well-written, well researched, and entertaining. Well worth the cost of the trip!

Learned a great deal & was entertained!

This was very informative and entertaining at the same time!. The history about who, what, and why are the causes of the lines at the airport. I didn't realize that hijacking was going on for so long and how it progressed into the safety features we now have in place.