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I'm Lindsay Graham and this is American Scandal.

In 1974, the nation was captivated by a new story that seems stranger than fiction.

Patricia Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing Magnet William Randolph Hearst,

had been kidnapped from her home in Berkeley by a group of radical political activists.

The group called itself the Symbianese Liberation Army,

and although her kidnappers threatened her life and kept her trapped in a dark closet for weeks,

Hearst would soon agree to become a member of the SLA.

Hearst went on to take part in bank robberies.

She trained to be a guerrilla fighter, and after she issued scathing condemnations of her family and their worldview,

it appeared that Hearst had become a different person, a convert to a radical cause.

As the saga unfolded, it stirred debate about wealth, politics, and even the nature of free will.

But for many, the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst was a story about the media and the public's appetite for shocking and sensational news coverage.

It's a discussion that re-emerged decades later with the rise of true crime,

a genre that's forced conversations about the media's responsibilities when telling stories about criminals and their victims.

My guest today is journalist and author Sarah Weinman, who writes the crime column for the New York Times book review.

She's the author of The Real Lolita.

Her latest book is Scoundrel, which tells the story of a convicted murderer who grew famous and was set free,

only to attempt murder once again.

We'll discuss how the coverage of Patricia Hearst was part of a longer lineage of true crime.

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