Book documents 'golden era' of skyjacking

Looking back at air travel in the '60s and early '70s, it could seem like a dream: free checked bags, no security lines and attentive flight attendants plying you with food and drink.

But the reality was not quite so dreamy in a time where airplane hijackings were almost commonplace. 159 commercial flights were taken hostage in the United States between 1961 and 1972. Some weeks, more than one plane was taken hostage.

In his book, "The Skies Belong to Us," Brendan Koerner tells the larger story of this era through the story of one couple, Roger Holder and Cathy Kerkow. They hijacked a flight in 1972 as a protest against the Vietnam War, and ended up in Algiers, eluding capture and living as minor celebrities.

Koerner joins The Daily Circuit to talk about his book and America's outrageous history of hijacking.

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