Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio
Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio
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Perma-Bound from Publisher's Hardcover ©2020--
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Harry N Abrams, Inc.
Annotation: "On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard gunned down unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. In a deadly barrage of 67 shots, 4 students were killed and 9 shot and wounded. It was the day America turned guns on its own children?a shocking event burned into our national memory. A few days prior, 10-year-old Derf Backderf saw those same Guardsmen patrolling his nearby hometown, sent in by the governor to crush a trucker strike. Using the journalism skills he employed on My Friend Dahmer and Trashed, Backderf has conducted extensive and to explore the lives of these four young people."
 
Reviews: 5
Catalog Number: #293865
Format: Perma-Bound from Publisher's Hardcover
Special Formats: Graphic Novel Graphic Novel
Copyright Date: 2020
Edition Date: 2020 Release Date: 09/08/20
Pages: 279 pages
ISBN: Publisher: 1-419-73484-9 Perma-Bound: 0-7804-9849-6
ISBN 13: Publisher: 978-1-419-73484-7 Perma-Bound: 978-0-7804-9849-5
Dewey: 378.77137
LCCN: 2019949791
Dimensions: 27 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

An excellent graphic retelling of a climactic moment in American history.Kent State University represented a slice of the American dream, a place where the children of blue-collar workers in northern Ohio could gain an education. Most of the students, as accomplished Backderf shows, were intent on gaining that education and, with luck, staying out of Vietnam. Three events conspired against them: Richard Nixon declared the invasion of Cambodia on a Friday night when National Guardsmen, already riled up by a labor strike in the author's hometown, were dispatched to Kent State to contain student demonstrations. Kent State, he writes, was "hardly a hotbed of radical politics." Even so, there were representatives of five law enforcement organizations on campus, including undercover FBI agents, as well as 1,200 National Guardsmen, who were ready for a fight. When one squad among them decided to shoot, perhaps directed to do so by a senior officer, at least a quarter of the soldiers fired directly into the ranks of the student demonstrators. Backderf raises a number of points that other chroniclers-especially James Michener, an apologist for law and order-failed to emphasize: Some Guardsmen, reviled and insulted by the students, were clearly out for blood; though depicted as kids, like the students they faced, most were in their 30s, with "little in common with the bohemian, far younger college students of 1970." Nixon and the FBI, among others, wanted to make an example of the students. As the author's notes show, he's done more homework than other writers, too. The shooting may have been a "calamitous blunder," but in the end-and Backderf's depiction is gruesome-four students died, one, ironically, an Army officer in training. And the Guardsmen? After a long coverup, with destruction of evidence, not a single one has been held accountable or punished for murders in which Nixon exalted-and an astonishing number of Americans endorsed.Four dead in Ohio, indeed-but Backderf's vivid, evocative book does a splendid job of keeping their memories alive.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

An excellent graphic retelling of a climactic moment in American history.Kent State University represented a slice of the American dream, a place where the children of blue-collar workers in northern Ohio could gain an education. Most of the students, as accomplished Backderf shows, were intent on gaining that education and, with luck, staying out of Vietnam. Three events conspired against them: Richard Nixon declared the invasion of Cambodia on a Friday night when National Guardsmen, already riled up by a labor strike in the author's hometown, were dispatched to Kent State to contain student demonstrations. Kent State, he writes, was "hardly a hotbed of radical politics." Even so, there were representatives of five law enforcement organizations on campus, including undercover FBI agents, as well as 1,200 National Guardsmen, who were ready for a fight. When one squad among them decided to shoot, perhaps directed to do so by a senior officer, at least a quarter of the soldiers fired directly into the ranks of the student demonstrators. Backderf raises a number of points that other chroniclers-especially James Michener, an apologist for law and order-failed to emphasize: Some Guardsmen, reviled and insulted by the students, were clearly out for blood; though depicted as kids, like the students they faced, most were in their 30s, with "little in common with the bohemian, far younger college students of 1970." Nixon and the FBI, among others, wanted to make an example of the students. As the author's notes show, he's done more homework than other writers, too. The shooting may have been a "calamitous blunder," but in the end-and Backderf's depiction is gruesome-four students died, one, ironically, an Army officer in training. And the Guardsmen? After a long coverup, with destruction of evidence, not a single one has been held accountable or punished for murders in which Nixon exalted-and an astonishing number of Americans endorsed.Four dead in Ohio, indeed-but Backderf's vivid, evocative book does a splendid job of keeping their memories alive.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Backderf (My Friend Dahmer) delivers a provocative, heartbreaking account of the days leading up to the infamous tragedy of May 1970, in which National Guardsmen killed four unarmed students and injured nine others at a Vietnam War protest on the Kent State University campus. Backderf conducted extensive research to explore the lives of the four students, revealing their hopes and dreams for the future-portraits that sharply rebut the politically motivated smears politicians and media outlets inflicted upon them after the incident. Though wholly sympathetic to the student protestors, Backderf also takes care to report the grueling conditions the National Guardsmen were forced to endure; their lack of training for de-escalation versus battlefield deployment; and the failings of leaders such as Ohio governor Jim Rhodes (a Nixon loyalist) and Gen. Robert Canterbury. Both men-s anger and paranoia toward antiwar activists stoked their emotion-driven directives to the exhausted, agitated guardsmen and fueled an already highly volatile situation. Backderf-s tightly drawn, muscular figures and busy layouts anchored by choice period details are consistent with his established style, with flourishes (from hairstyles to smirks) that individualize the ensemble cast. His expertly crafted chronicle of this defining moment in U.S. history serves as a deeply moving elegy for the victims. Readers may also draw from it sobering parallels to the deep divisions of contemporary times, again dangerously rife with media noise and misinformation muddying the waters. (Apr.)

School Library Journal (Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)

Gr 8 Up-In the midst of the divisive Vietnam War, Ohio's Kent State University was a haven for free thinkers and creatives who were fed up with compulsory enlistment and didn't believe that the United States' military involvement in Vietnam was about "keeping Communism at bay." On April 30, 1970, Nixon informed the nation that the United States would be invading Cambodia and that the war would ramp up instead of winding down. Protests were organized, including one at Kent State, prompting chaos and violence. The mayor of Kent begged the governor to send in the Ohio National Guard, and two days later, as the smoke cleared, four unarmed young college students lay dead and more than half a dozen were seriously injured. Compiling firsthand accounts, interviews, news articles, and photographs, Backderf skillfully recounts almost by the hour everything that occurred between Nixon's announcement and the aftermath of the shooting. The amount of text is a little daunting at times, but readers will be riveted by the black-and-white comics and strong linework. Revealing malice, panic, fear, and frustration, Backderf's depictions of people tell the story as powerfully as any eyewitness and will make readers crave even more information. VERDICT Fans of the author's My Friend Dahmer won't be disappointed. Students learning about the Vietnam War will find this vivid exploration of history a welcome supplement to dry textbooks. Michael Marie Jacobs, Darlington School, GA

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal Starred Review (Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)
Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
School Library Journal (Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2020)
Reading Level: 9.0
Interest Level: 9+

From Derf Backderf, the bestselling author of My Friend Dahmer, comes the Eisner and ALA/YALSA Alex Award-winning tragic and unforgettable story of the Kent State shootings, told in graphic novel form.

Named a Best Book of the Year by New York Times, Forbes, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and NPR, Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio is a moving and troubling story about the bitter price of dissent—as relevant today as it was in 1970.

On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard gunned down unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University. In a deadly barrage of 67 shots, four students were killed and nine shot and wounded. It was the day America turned guns on its own children—a shocking event burned into our national memory.

The fatal shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country. More than four million students participated in organized walkouts at hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools, the largest student strike in the history of the United States at that time. It was a day that shocked the nation and helped turn the tide of public opinion against America’s war in Vietnam.

A few days prior, 10-year-old Derf Backderf saw those same guardsmen patrolling his nearby hometown, sent in by the governor to crush a trucker strike.

Using the journalism skills he employed on My Friend Dahmer and Trashed, Backderf has conducted extensive interviews and research to explore the lives of these four young people and the events of those four days in May, when the country seemed on the brink of tearing apart.

In this award-winning and powerful graphic novel, Derf Backderf takes us back to the age of the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon, Woodstock, and the Cold War and explores, in words and images, a scene of tragedy: the campus of Kent State University, where National Guard Troops attacked unarmed protestors and killed four students (Allison Beth Krause, age 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, age 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, age 20, and William Knox Schroeder, age 19).


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