49. EXCLUSIVE!: The Inside Story of Patricia Hearst and the SLA by television newswoman Marilyn Baker with Sally Brompton

Category: 50 Books

That’s how it’s worded on the front of the book.

Anyway, I could go into how I have a morbid curiosity for all things Patty Hearst/SLA, but you probably already know all about that, and why rehash when I can get into telling you about this book? This book was published in 1974. This should tell you everything you need to know about this book.

“But Jaimie, what do you mean?”

I mean that Patty Hearst was not captured/arrested/whatever until September of 1975. So the book doesn’t even have an ending.

It was a terrible book. It was basically Marilyn Baker tooting her own horn over and over. AND YET, LET’S NOT FORGET: NO ENDING. I’m sure Ms. Baker is a fine journalist. She’s more than capable of chasing down leads and getting info before other people. That’s great. But this book is junk and you can totally tell it’s a “Look what I can do!” type thing. I’m guessing she wanted to be the first person to write a book about the Hearst/SLA thing and in doing so she rips not only herself but all of us off. If she would have waited for the whole thing to play out it would have been okay. At LEAST it would have been complete. But as it is it’s just self-praise and half a story. I expected better.

Tags: ,

No Comments