The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking (ALA Notable Books for Adults) Hardcover – June 18, 2013

This is a funny, lively and sad account of the hijacking of Western Airlines Flight 701 in 1972 by a broken Vietnam veteran named Roger Holder and his girlfriend Cathy Kerkow. It tells their story in great detail, including their demand for the freedom of Angela Davis, $3 million dollars and a ride to North Vietnam and how they ended up in Algeria where they were welcomed into the presidential palace. It’s also a fascinating account of the rise in popularity of hijacking in the 1960s containing brief accounts of numerous hijacking cases and the often desperate and crazy people who resorted to the crime, many of whom are quite sympathetic figures. Some of them reminded me of the characters in Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts, a sad group of underdogs and losers, victims of racism or police brutality, some desperate for cash, or folks with a message they wanted to send about some shortcomings in society.The reconstruction of the main hijacking is fascinating in its detail as Koerner, a journalist, was able to read about it in the files of the FBI and speak to several eye witnesses that he was able to track down almost 40 years later. And the aftermath of the hijacking is just as fascinating as the wild ride from California to Algeria, once Holder and Kerkow are welcomed to move in with the International Section of the Black Panther Party.This book is hard to classify. In part it’s a true crime story about a hijacking but it’s also a romantic love story, a social history of the 60s and 70s and a biographical portrait of two people whose most memorable accomplishment was to carry out the longest-distance skyjacking in American history. It’s a Bonnie and Clyde story of the Jet Age and it’s just a really fascinating, unforgettable book.

This is a great read! I went through it in 3 days after downloading the eBook. I was so inspired after hearing the author's radio appearance on KQED's Forum in SF. I called in because the book brought back my memory of being hijacked in December, 1968, by Thomas Washington, a chemist claiming to have nitro and a gun.i was with my family heading to Miami from Philadelphia for winter vacation. I found " The Skies Belong to Us" very readable, very well researched and engrossing. The author captures the politics of the time, with relevance to our current struggles over political dissent , asylum and extradition of fugitives. The main storyline is interspersed with the chronological evolution of airport screening , security as well as detailed accounting of many specific hijackings by a truly diverse collection of malcontents, extortionists, idealists and psychotic individuals. Some are humorous, some tragic, many quite frightening. Fortunately for me and my family , our hijacking I'd not involve violence . That seems to have come later in the game.I learned many things about this topic; particularly upsetting is learning how much the airlines and the FAA forestalled appropriate implementation of proper safety screening mostly to protect their dollars, many of which wherein turn doled out to the extortionists ( some countries like Algeria supposedly returned ransoms to the airlines). There were many individual acts of bravery and heroism by pilots, crew and even passengers.I was ble to locate " our hijacker", # 42 in the " series", TG Washington, 12/19/1968.. Philadelphia- Havana- Veradero( north Cuban airstrip)- Miami...I had no problem when I was back in school having to rite an essay " What I did on my Chritmas Vacation"!! The whole school wanted to hear it in assembly,Good work, Brendan Koerner! Part of my youth revived for a second look.Thank you.Alan Jay Cohen, M.D. 'Hijacking' Class of ' 69

It was the 70's, a time when airline security was so lax as to be nonexistent. Airliner hijackings were occurring almost weekly for a while, and the motivations for them were as varied as the destinations the hijackers demanded to go. Some did it for money, some for political reasons, while others just wanted a free flight to Cuba or some non-extradition country. Koerner's book covers the attitude of the times, as well as some of the actual cases. He focuses particularly on Catherine Kerkow, a party girl from Coos Bay, Oregon, and Roger Holder, a Vietnam veteran. They were an unlikely couple, but ended up pulling off one of the biggest hijackings ever perpetrated...with Kerkow actually getting away with it.It was also the time of 'radical chic,' a concept that glorified anyone who staged a big stunt (like a hijacking) for political reasons. Holder and Kerkow even gave their 'project' a name ('Sisyphus') and a goal: To free Angela Davis, an accused 'radical' who was on trial at the time. Kerkow and Holder became the darlings of the rich and powerful in France who supported the concept of radical chic. And France was where they ended up after the pair hijacked a Western Airlines flight, and managed to extort $500,000 from the airline to boot. After switching to a longer-range aircraft with a portion of the passengers, they forced the flight to go to Algiers. Koerner goes into great detail about their time in Algiers, and later in France, where Kerkow finally disappeared for good after she separated from Holder. She remains on an active warrant issued by the F.B.I. The irony here is that both 'DB Cooper' and Cathy Kerkow got away with their hijackings, but the F.B.I. could never catch either of them, and they had an advantage because they knew Kerkow's entire history. Picking France to disappear was a brilliant move on Kerkow's part, because she not only spoke the language fluently, but took advantage of a country (at that time) that looked the other way on politically-motivated hijackings. It was also a time when obtaining a passport or new I.D. under a new name was reletively easy to do. Koerner asserts in the book that this is probably what happened to Cathy Kerkow, and that she is living a genteel life today, most likely married, in either France or another country in Europe. It is unlikely she will ever be called to justice.For fans of the 'D.B. Cooper' hijacking mystery, 'The Skies Belong to Us,' is great entertainment. It could be better than the Cooper story, because readers come to know and understand Kerkow and Holder, who were real people with actual lives and histories. D.B. Cooper was only a mystery. Kerkow and Holder have an actual STORY.'The Skies Belong to Us' includes many pictures and illustrations, which was certainly a bonus. Kudos to Brendan Koerner.It's an amazing book that tells a story few know about.