Not the Camilla We Knew: One Woman's Life from Small-town America to the Symbionese Liberation Army

by Rachael Hanel

Overview

The mystery of how an ordinary Minnesota girl came to be, briefly, one of the most wanted domestic terrorists in the United States

Behind every act of domestic terrorism there is someone’s child, an average American whose life took a radical turn for reasons that often remain mysterious. Camilla Hall is a case in point: a pastor’s daughter from small-town Minnesota who eventually joined the ranks of radicals like Sara Jane Olson (aka Kathleen Soliah) in the notorious Symbionese Liberation Army before dying in a shootout with Los Angeles Police in May 1974. How could a “good girl” like Camilla become one of the most wanted domestic terrorists in the United States? Rachael Hanel tells her story here, revealing both the deep humanity and the extraordinary circumstances of Camilla Hall’s life.

Camilla’s childhood in a tight-knit religious family was marred by loss and grief as, one after another, her three siblings died. Her path from her Minnesota home to her final, radical SLA family featured years as an artist and activist—in welfare offices, political campaigns, union organizing, culminating in a love affair that would be her introduction to the SLA. Through in-depth research and extensive interviews, Hanel pieces together Camilla’s bewildering transformation from a “gentle, zaftig, arty, otherworldy” young woman (as one observer remarked), working for social change within the system, into a gun-wielding criminal involved in the kidnapping of Patty Hearst.

During this time of mounting unrest and violence, Camilla Hall’s story is of urgent interest for what it reveals about the forces of radicalization. But as Hanel ventures ever further into Camilla’s past, searching out the critical points where character and cause might intersect, her book becomes an intriguing, disturbing, and ultimately deeply moving journey into the dark side of America’s promise.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452968322
Publisher:	University of Minnesota Press
Publication date:	12/13/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Rachael Hanel is associate professor of creative nonfiction and journalism at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her book We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter, also from the University of Minnesota Press, was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. Her essays have been published in print and online in the anthology Love and Profanity: A Collection of True, Tortured, Wild, Hilarious, Concise, and Intense Tales of Teenage Life; Slag Glass City; Midwestern Gothic; WLA: War, Literature, and the Arts; The Bellingham Review; and New Delta Review.

Table of Contents

Prologue Camilla Is Killed: May 17, 1974 1

Introduction The Woman in the Picture 7

Part I Camilla Established

1 "We Begin When We First Met" 19

2 "Their First Concern" 27

3 "It Was a Troubled Spring, Heavy with Grief" 34

4 Camilla Goes to College 39

5 Camilla Gets a Job 46

6 A Turning Point 52

Part II Camilla Transformed

7 Camilla Moves to California 59

8 Camilla and Mizmoon 65

9 The SLA Forms 72

10 Camilla Moves to Francisco Street 81

11 Camilla Joins the SLA 88

12 The SLA Kidnaps Patty: February 4, 1974 94

13 Camilla Slips Away 103

14 Camilla inside the SLA 107

Part III Camilla Revealed

15 Crumbs on the Trail 123

16 The Missing Letters 127

17 "A Perfect, Loving Daughter" 132

18 The Last Christmas 139

19 The Sole Survivor 145

20 "She Was a Pacifist" 154

21 "I'm Not Surprised" 161

22 Camilla Reveals Herself 165

23 A Parallel Story 177

24 A Visit to Chowchilla 185

25 Nan 197

26 Good Girls Gone Bad 206

Epilogue "It Has Been a Wonderful Life" 213

Acknowledgments 219

Notes 223

Editorial Reviews

10/17/2022

In this affecting account, creative writing professor Hanel (We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoirs of a Gravedigger’s Daughter) delves into the life of Camilla Hall, who was raised in rural Minnesota by religious parents and died at 29 in a 1974 shoot-out between members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical group that kidnapped Patty Hearst, and the Los Angeles police. Hanel looks at several theories, including survivor’s guilt (Hall’s three siblings died young), to explain why this seemingly normal Midwestern girl, who became a Berkeley, Calif., street artist, joined a terrorist cult. Her surviving drawings and poetry paint a picture of a happy young woman; in 1971, she fell in love with Patricia Soltysik in her first open lesbian relationship. She stayed close to Soltysik even after their romance ended and Soltysik took up with criminal Donald DeFreeze. Soltysik and DeFreeze later cofounded the SLA and recruited Hall into its ranks. Hanel concludes: “There’s no one explanation for why Camilla did what she did. It’s a complicated story formed by grief, loss, adventure, independence, love, and a wish to leave the world a better place than she found it—in short, what almost all of us experience and desire.” This nuanced portrait will resonate with many. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"Who are the shadows in the background of shocking events? Rachael Hanel’s compelling exploration of Camilla Hall, a likable Minnesota social worker turned Berkeley lesbian artist turned player in the most notorious political kidnapping of its time, grippingly illuminates the barely perceptible line between an unrelenting passion for justice and devastating choices from which one can’t return."—Barrie Jean Borich, author of Apocalypse, Darling and Body Geographic

"In this captivating work of narrative journalism, Rachael Hanel explores how people can become radicalized in the face of governmental failure, charting the path from idealism to violence to tragedy. At its heart, this is a book about womanhood and belonging—and one woman’s quest to understand another, to find the empathy and humanity that live beyond the headlines if we only try hard enough to see."—Melissa Faliveno, author of Tomboyland: Essays

"In this affecting account, creative writing professor Hanel delves into the life of Camilla Hall, who was raised in rural Minnesota by religious parents and died at 29 in a 1974 shoot-out between members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical group that kidnapped Patty Hearst, and the Los Angeles police. This nuanced portrait will resonate with many."—Publishers Weekly

 

"The story’s relevant connections to the happenings in today’s political world will linger with you. You will keep thinking about Camilla’s life and her family long after you finish the book."—KYMN Radio

 

"Hanel breathes new life and understanding into Hall, who was often ridiculed in mainstream media, and invites readers to understand one woman’s story through a lens less viewed."—Mankato Free Press

 

From the Publisher