The entire episode remains a bizarre part of my college years at Whitman College in the mid-70s.

My roommate’s family was close to the Hearsts, so as a result, it was very personal and heartfelt experience for her. It became even MORE personal when, seeking to protect sister Annie Hearst, the family sent her to stay with us in our room for several days under the assumed name of Annie McDonald!

My roommate and I were the only ones who really knew who she was, so it was excruciating for us when friends – mostly guys – would wander into our room, glance down at the Newsweek featuring Patty’s famous photo in which she is sporting a beret, and proclaim, “She’s guilty! She’s part of the whole thing…”

Needless to say, the only truly worrying thing for those around Annie that week was the fact that no one had told us – even Annie – that the family had hired a bodyguard to shadow her. We kept wondering who the guy was, skulking around the edges of the tennis court as we hit the ball. Was he a member of the SLA?!

Thankfully, the week in Walla Walla passed without incident, with Annie going out for pizza and to frat parties like any other student.

I look forward reading Trance.

Christopher Sorrentino’s Trance blends history and fiction to recreate the story of the Symbionese Liberation Army’s 1974 kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst, loosely following events to create the same strange effect the news had on the co…