The skies belong to us - Brendan I. Koerner

The true stroy of the longest-distance hijacking in American history.

In
an America torn apart by the Vietnam War and the demise of'60s
idealism, 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; others aimed
to swap hostages for sacks of cash. Their criminal exploits mesmerized
the country, never more so than when shattered Army veteran Roger Holder
and mischievous party girl Cathy Kerkow managred to comandeer Western
Airlines Flight 701 and flee across an ocean with a half-million dollars
in ransom-a heist that remainsthe longest-distance hijacking in
American history.

More than just an enthralling story about a spectacular crime and its bittersweet, decades-long aftermath, The Skies Belong to Us 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.

BRENDAN I. KOERNER is a contributing editor at Wired and the author of Now the Hell Will Start, which was optioned by filmmaker Spike Lee. A former columnist for both The New York Times and Slate, he was named one of Columbia Journalism Review's "Ten Young Writers on the Rise." Visit www.theskiesbelongtous.com and follow him at @brendankoerner.