The Skies Belong to Us

The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking is a 2013 narrative nonfiction book by the American author Brendan I. Koerner. It is a history of the "golden age" of aircraft hijacking in the United States from the first incident in May 1961 through January 1973. Hijackings during this period took place as often as once a week, with about 160 incidents in total (most were to Cuba). The book looks at the causes of the epidemic, some of the more famous ones and follows in-depth the story of the longest-distance skyjacking in American history, involving Willie Roger Holder and Catherine Marie Kerkow, a young couple who took control of Western Airlines Flight 701 on June 2, 1972 and ended up flying across the Atlantic Ocean to Algeria. It finally examines what brought the hijacking craze to an end in 1973.

The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking
First Edition
AuthorBrendan I. Koerner
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherCrown Publishing Group (USA)
Publication date
2013
Media typeHardback
ISBN978-0307886101
Preceded byNow the Hell Will Start 

The book was favorably reviewed including in the New York Times Book Review,[1] New York Times,[2] Washington Post,[3] Los Angeles Times,[4] The National (Abu Dhabi),[5] SFGate,[6] and Bookforum.[7]

Awards and honors

It was an ALA Notable Books for Adults (2014),[8] and was one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year (2013).[9] It was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction (2014).

gollark: (2061 factorial)
gollark: Guess I can put off actually getting access to the relevant email account until 2061!
gollark: Oh, right, I should probably have checked.
gollark: Given that the authentication servers are """"down for maintenance".
gollark: Oh APIOFORMS. I think my Mojang account has finally stopped working.

References
  1. Benjamin Wallace-Wells (July 5, 2013). "Theirs for the Taking". New York Times Book Review. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  2. Dwight Garner (June 13, 2013). "Bonnie and Clyde, the Aerial Version". New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  3. Daniel Stashower (July 12, 2013). "Book review: 'The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking' by Brendan I. Koerner". Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  4. Héctor Tobar (June 20, 2013). "Fly the unfriendly skies with 'The Skies Belong to Us'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  5. Jamie Kenny (August 3, 2013). "The Skies Belong to Us: a look at the era of airline hijackings". The National. UAE. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  6. Glenn C. Altschuler (June 28, 2013). "'The Skies Belong to Us,' by Brendan Koerner". SFGate. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  7. Jordan Smith (July 2, 2013). "Terror in the Skies". Bookforum. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  8. "2014 List". ALA. 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  9. "100 Notable Books of 2013". New York Times Book Review. November 27, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  • The Skies Belong to Us, official website
  • "Book Discussion on The Skies Belong to Us". C-SPAN. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2015. Brendan Koerner talked about his book, The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking, in which he chronicles the hijacking of Western Airlines flight 701 in 1972 by Vietnam War veteran Roger Holder and his girlfriend, Cathy Kerkow. The larger goal of the hijacking was to protest the Vietnam War, but Holder and Kerkow were also trying to free Angela Davis, who was on trial for murder at the time. Brendan Koerner spoke at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta.


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