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Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio
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!
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).
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.
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.
Named a “Best Book of the Year” by New York Times, Forbes, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and NPR!
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).
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.
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.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2020
About the author
Derf Backderf
18 books523 followersJohn Backderf is a Eisner-award-winning American comics creator, also known as Derf Backderf. He is most famous for his recent graphic novels, especially My Friend Dahmer, the international bestseller which won an Angoulême Prize, and earlier for his comic strip The City, which appeared in a number of alternative newspapers from 1990–2014.
Derf has been nominated for multiple Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz awards and a Rueben Award. In 2006, he won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. Backderf has been based in Cleveland, Ohio, for much of his career.
Derf has been nominated for multiple Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz awards and a Rueben Award. In 2006, he won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. Backderf has been based in Cleveland, Ohio, for much of his career.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 829 reviews
December 7, 2020
Powerful and moving - 5+ Stars
I was born almost a decade after most of the chaos surrounding the Vietnam War in the late 60s/early 70s. I can only imagine what it was like to grow up with the threat of being drafted and the chaos of military action on our home soil. Unfortunately, 2020 has shown that maybe we have not come quite as far from the events of Kent State as we hoped.
Backderf does a great job with all of his research and sharing this important story using the graphic novel medium. It may not seem like a topic for a "comic book", but it really does a great job in making a complicated and difficult subject relatable. As the story is told, he makes you want the visuals and then he gives them to you instantly. I looked up a few of the backgrounds on Google Maps and he did a great job in accurately recreating the setting. Just amazing all around.
Speaking further about the visuals, I enjoy Backderf's style. It is a bit cartoonish and sometimes reminds me of old Mad Magazine art, but that does not get in the way of telling a serious story. It is enjoyable to look at and very precise so that there is not a lot of "extra" to get in the way of the main focus of each panel. Again, really great stuff here!
I have read non-fiction recently about 9/11 and mention in that review that the story might be a difficult one for some, but sometimes the truths are hard and we still need to learn about them. That is the case with Backderf's Kent State, and I think anyone would benefit by reading this, learning, and remembering what happened 50 years ago in northeast Ohio as Americans attacked other Americans in a conflict that could have been avoided. Again, it is a lesson I think that some still need to learn.
I was born almost a decade after most of the chaos surrounding the Vietnam War in the late 60s/early 70s. I can only imagine what it was like to grow up with the threat of being drafted and the chaos of military action on our home soil. Unfortunately, 2020 has shown that maybe we have not come quite as far from the events of Kent State as we hoped.
Backderf does a great job with all of his research and sharing this important story using the graphic novel medium. It may not seem like a topic for a "comic book", but it really does a great job in making a complicated and difficult subject relatable. As the story is told, he makes you want the visuals and then he gives them to you instantly. I looked up a few of the backgrounds on Google Maps and he did a great job in accurately recreating the setting. Just amazing all around.
Speaking further about the visuals, I enjoy Backderf's style. It is a bit cartoonish and sometimes reminds me of old Mad Magazine art, but that does not get in the way of telling a serious story. It is enjoyable to look at and very precise so that there is not a lot of "extra" to get in the way of the main focus of each panel. Again, really great stuff here!
I have read non-fiction recently about 9/11 and mention in that review that the story might be a difficult one for some, but sometimes the truths are hard and we still need to learn about them. That is the case with Backderf's Kent State, and I think anyone would benefit by reading this, learning, and remembering what happened 50 years ago in northeast Ohio as Americans attacked other Americans in a conflict that could have been avoided. Again, it is a lesson I think that some still need to learn.
April 30, 2024
“My God! They’re killing us!”--Kent State Freshman Ron Steele, May 18, 1970
“Four dead in Ohio”--Neil Young
I was a high school student in 1970 when the Kent State killings took place, Ohio National Guard firing live ammo on unarmed students, four killed, nine maimed for life, thousands more traumatized, many in the country turned permanently activist against fascism if they weren't already there. I was already well read about Vietnam and had particpated in student protests as the country was now turning seriously against the war. Derf Backderf is an Ohio comics artist that has produced books on his former high school acquaintance Jeffrey Dahmer, his work as a garbageman in Trashed. He was ten when the National Guard were called into this little college town to crush a peaceful demonstration against the war.
All those who were shot were from 3-800 feet away, so there was no imminent danger. Some kids threw rocks, they shouted at the soldiers to get off the campus. So this was annoying to the Guard, but live bullets in response?! It appears some of the (undertrained) soldiers suddenly just got angry and started shooting, though it is also possible that they were given the go-ahead to shoot from the people "in charge." The shooting began as a surge of students came out of buildings; but it was not a mass rushto hurt the (nervous, green) Guard, it was a passing period betewen classes, which is why it was many students, books in hand and with no particular connection to the protest, were shot down.
(I am glad that the killing of kids by military/police is a thing of the past, thank goodness. Bad/sad joke).
In the days after the massacre, polls revealed that 58% of Americans blamed the students for the killings; only 11% blamed the National Guard. It took several years for the truth to come out that many kids were just going to class, and none of the kids who were shot could be seen as "radicals." But what many people don't realize is that the killing ignited thousands of campus protests all over the country, closing down schools, and continuing this kind of violence against America’s children at other campuses across the country (yes, there were additional killings of students who were protesting Kent State and the war that followed this). Derf's book was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the massacre. As was Deborah Wiles's YA book Kent State, which I also reviewed here.
Derf’s book is a kind of dramatic re-creation rather than historical work, but it helps you feel you were there, helps us humanize and get to know each of the truly nice kids who were killed, and there are source materials for every scene in the appendix. One sad chapter in American history. It's not without balance, as we see that the smashing of windows in downtown businesses and the burning of a ROTC shed took place, turning public opinion against young people prior to the events of May 1970.
If you are interested, Kent State has a massive archive of materials, interviews, and so on, so you can decide for yourself what happened, all materials Derf researched thoroughly for years for this amazing book, one of the best this year or any year. The kind of balance between alt comix sixties style art and meticulous attention to detail is amazing. His (so far) masterpiece!
Chris Butler’s “Beggar’s Bullets” (also known as rocks):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-Ku...
Fifty years later, Kent State students who were present at the massacre reflect on that day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26iW...
100 photographs taken at the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26iW...
“Four dead in Ohio”--Neil Young
I was a high school student in 1970 when the Kent State killings took place, Ohio National Guard firing live ammo on unarmed students, four killed, nine maimed for life, thousands more traumatized, many in the country turned permanently activist against fascism if they weren't already there. I was already well read about Vietnam and had particpated in student protests as the country was now turning seriously against the war. Derf Backderf is an Ohio comics artist that has produced books on his former high school acquaintance Jeffrey Dahmer, his work as a garbageman in Trashed. He was ten when the National Guard were called into this little college town to crush a peaceful demonstration against the war.
All those who were shot were from 3-800 feet away, so there was no imminent danger. Some kids threw rocks, they shouted at the soldiers to get off the campus. So this was annoying to the Guard, but live bullets in response?! It appears some of the (undertrained) soldiers suddenly just got angry and started shooting, though it is also possible that they were given the go-ahead to shoot from the people "in charge." The shooting began as a surge of students came out of buildings; but it was not a mass rushto hurt the (nervous, green) Guard, it was a passing period betewen classes, which is why it was many students, books in hand and with no particular connection to the protest, were shot down.
(I am glad that the killing of kids by military/police is a thing of the past, thank goodness. Bad/sad joke).
In the days after the massacre, polls revealed that 58% of Americans blamed the students for the killings; only 11% blamed the National Guard. It took several years for the truth to come out that many kids were just going to class, and none of the kids who were shot could be seen as "radicals." But what many people don't realize is that the killing ignited thousands of campus protests all over the country, closing down schools, and continuing this kind of violence against America’s children at other campuses across the country (yes, there were additional killings of students who were protesting Kent State and the war that followed this). Derf's book was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the massacre. As was Deborah Wiles's YA book Kent State, which I also reviewed here.
Derf’s book is a kind of dramatic re-creation rather than historical work, but it helps you feel you were there, helps us humanize and get to know each of the truly nice kids who were killed, and there are source materials for every scene in the appendix. One sad chapter in American history. It's not without balance, as we see that the smashing of windows in downtown businesses and the burning of a ROTC shed took place, turning public opinion against young people prior to the events of May 1970.
If you are interested, Kent State has a massive archive of materials, interviews, and so on, so you can decide for yourself what happened, all materials Derf researched thoroughly for years for this amazing book, one of the best this year or any year. The kind of balance between alt comix sixties style art and meticulous attention to detail is amazing. His (so far) masterpiece!
Chris Butler’s “Beggar’s Bullets” (also known as rocks):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-Ku...
Fifty years later, Kent State students who were present at the massacre reflect on that day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26iW...
100 photographs taken at the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26iW...
May 20, 2024
DB just keeps getting better...thought I had a pretty good idea what happened at Kent State; was I ever wrong. DB takes us on campus and we walk with the students as tensions mount. Classic example of Nebel des Krieges - and when the tear gas cleared 'Tzuian' warnings of tactics/strategy were written in the blood of students - highest recommendation.
October 6, 2020
The more things change . . .
Derf provides this dramatization of events leading up to the Kent State shootings that happened fifty years ago, but it all eerily echoes headlines from today's news: a corrupt and paranoid president leads the country, a liberal mainstream protest movement is aswirl in rumors of radical elements and terrorism, armed conservatives are sick of what they see as chaos and anarchy and are ready to put a stop to it all by any means necessary.
Gripping and tragic. I couldn't even make myself stop reading until I finished all the damned endnotes at two in the morning.
Derf provides this dramatization of events leading up to the Kent State shootings that happened fifty years ago, but it all eerily echoes headlines from today's news: a corrupt and paranoid president leads the country, a liberal mainstream protest movement is aswirl in rumors of radical elements and terrorism, armed conservatives are sick of what they see as chaos and anarchy and are ready to put a stop to it all by any means necessary.
Gripping and tragic. I couldn't even make myself stop reading until I finished all the damned endnotes at two in the morning.
March 11, 2021
“Required reading for all Americans” says the blurb on the cover - pfft, hardly! An anti-war protest ended badly on May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen opened fire on American university students using live rounds resulting in four dead and several others injured. Yeah, it’s not right and all that, but - what about that makes this “required reading” for anybody?
It wasn’t the first or last anti-war protest during the Nixon administration (or numerous other administrations), it wasn’t the worst, there’s really no legacy or long-lasting lessons, besides not using live ammo against protestors (which is amazing that that was a lesson that needed to be learned in the first place!), and nobody was ever charged for the deaths.
Like most protests it accomplished nothing - Vietnam continued unabated for another five years afterwards - and police and protestors continue to clash today about anything and everything with similarly brutal results. And, again sorry if this sounds callous but, only four dead - four? Consider current events where, in America at the moment, THOUSANDS of people are dying from COVID-19 every day and the events in this book seem less and less important.
Of the 250 tediously-long pages that comprise this book, almost none of it is particularly engaging or necessary to understanding what happened that day. Ohio’s authoritarian laws and an absurdly overblown response stemming from incompetent (lack of) leadership from the governor on down is why this happened - nothing profound that requires this much explanation or context. The only really gripping part of the book is the event itself right at the end and that’s all the book needed, with maybe just a handful of pages as preamble.
The book also features Derf’s best artwork yet and he’s clearly done his research - everything a person could possibly want to know about this relatively unremarkable event is contained here. But, despite being a big fan of Derf Backderf’s books, I thought this was his worst one yet. Overlong, dull and a thoroughly unremarkable story, Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio is required reading for nobody.
It wasn’t the first or last anti-war protest during the Nixon administration (or numerous other administrations), it wasn’t the worst, there’s really no legacy or long-lasting lessons, besides not using live ammo against protestors (which is amazing that that was a lesson that needed to be learned in the first place!), and nobody was ever charged for the deaths.
Like most protests it accomplished nothing - Vietnam continued unabated for another five years afterwards - and police and protestors continue to clash today about anything and everything with similarly brutal results. And, again sorry if this sounds callous but, only four dead - four? Consider current events where, in America at the moment, THOUSANDS of people are dying from COVID-19 every day and the events in this book seem less and less important.
Of the 250 tediously-long pages that comprise this book, almost none of it is particularly engaging or necessary to understanding what happened that day. Ohio’s authoritarian laws and an absurdly overblown response stemming from incompetent (lack of) leadership from the governor on down is why this happened - nothing profound that requires this much explanation or context. The only really gripping part of the book is the event itself right at the end and that’s all the book needed, with maybe just a handful of pages as preamble.
The book also features Derf’s best artwork yet and he’s clearly done his research - everything a person could possibly want to know about this relatively unremarkable event is contained here. But, despite being a big fan of Derf Backderf’s books, I thought this was his worst one yet. Overlong, dull and a thoroughly unremarkable story, Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio is required reading for nobody.
October 17, 2020
You know what's horrifying about this? That it's never ending.
At Kent State it was the National Guard, but all across America it's police officers, or other organizations that are supposed to protect the American people. No one takes responsibility for these situations, and it feels like it's often caused by misunderstanding and overly weaponized barely trained humans. Also, the fact that those who were officially put to trial were just freed with no true justice being served.
Derf did a great job researching this, and sharing what happened.
I am disgusted, and beyond lost on how to make it better.
At Kent State it was the National Guard, but all across America it's police officers, or other organizations that are supposed to protect the American people. No one takes responsibility for these situations, and it feels like it's often caused by misunderstanding and overly weaponized barely trained humans. Also, the fact that those who were officially put to trial were just freed with no true justice being served.
Derf did a great job researching this, and sharing what happened.
I am disgusted, and beyond lost on how to make it better.
January 2, 2021
Gorgeous, riveting, disturbing.
May 4, 2020
Summary: A graphic non-fiction account of the shooting of four students at Kent State University, focusing on the students who died, and the sequence of events leading up to the shooting, and the dynamics within the National Guard Troops sent to suppress the student demonstrations.
Today (May 4) marks 50 years since the shootings that took the lives of four Kent State students and wounded nine others, some disabled for life. I grew up about 35 miles from Kent in nearby Youngstown. Sandy Scheuer, a student walking between classes, grew up in Boardman, a Youngstown suburb. She was a sweet, apolitical, speech pathology major until one of the shots severed her jugular. She bled to death in minutes. I was a high school sophomore at the time. We walked around school the day after utterly stunned.
The others who died were Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, and Bill Schroeder. This new graphic non-fiction work by Derf Backderf traces the last days and final moments of these four students, from May 1 to May 4. It also covers the events surrounding the shootings. It begins with the announcement of Richard Nixon of the expansion of the Vietnam conflict into Cambodia, and the student reaction, including extensive rioting at Ohio State, a debacle for then governor James Rhodes, running for Senate. with a primary election coming up that week. Backderf profiles the Ohio National Guard, portraying these "weekend warriors" as coming into Kent from a tense standoff between teamsters and "scab" truckers in nearby Richfield. Short of sleep and already on edge from fear of snipers and other attacks, they arrive in Kent confronting students who have gutted a number of downtown businesses, and set an ROTC building on fire. Furthermore, a swirl of rumored threats put them on further edge.
Bill Schroeder was an ROTC student, likable yet a serious student with increasing doubts about the war. Jeff Miller, a transfer student loved the Kent bar and music scene but was increasingly upset by the war, and the Guard presence, having been gassed and eluded helicopter surveillance to get back to his home. Allison Krause, a politically engaged student also had encounters with an increasingly hostile Guard, and was amid the demonstrators. Both Schroeder and Scheuer were in a parking lot more than 400 feet from where the shots were fired. The closest students were at least 150 feet away. Backderf's accounts of these students corresponds to others I've read.
While Backderf's focus is on the students, he does explore radical elements with the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weatherman that had been on campus, but apparently cleared out before the student demonstrations on May 4. Unfortunately, Jeff Miller's red headband, matched descriptions of the headwear of some of the radicals. Backderf also gives attention to a suspicious photographer, Terry Norman, apparently working for the FBI or another agency. Backderf note that he was armed and in the middle of the demonstrations on May 4. He also explores the possibilities of significant government infiltration of the campus prior to the shootings.
Two things stand out in the account of the shooting. One is the origin of the shooting. Backderf, like others, cannot come to a definitive conclusion, beyond focusing on Company G, and the reported huddle that occurred in the minutes before they opened fire. All the Guardsman were "locked and loaded" meaning that had live ammunition clips in their semiautomatic rifles, with a round in the firing chamber. Guns were reloaded with new clips afterward and no one was ever held accountable for the shootings.
The other thing that "graphically" stood out was the portrayal of the deaths and wounds of each student, including portrayals of entry and exit wounds, along with text describing the damage rendered by each bullet that struck a student. The force of an M-16 gunshot can fatally wound at 2 miles. One round penetrated a plate of steel in a sculpture. I have seen the bullet hole. Casualty numbers do not convey the terror of those moments, how the students who died never had a chance, and the utter waste of what occurred.
Although this is a graphic work, it is not fiction but an attempt to render the history of these events graphically. The artist spent time onsite, and his renderings of places, including Kent's downtown bars is accurate. He interviewed people close to the four students and spent extensive time in other interviews and in the Kent archives. The back matter includes extensive notes detailing Backderf's research.
On this 50th anniversary, amid a time of a country in a health crisis, an economic crisis, and already facing deep divisions, this book portrays how demonstrations can go horribly wrong. Violent words can accelerate to property damage and attacks on others. Sometimes, the forces called to intervene are not adequately prepared or properly led. Political officials at every layer of government can de-escalate or exacerbate tensions by their words and actions.
The subtitle of this work is "Four Dead in Ohio," quoting the words from "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, released later that summer. At the conclusion of performances, these words are followed by "how many more?" I hope this work, conveying the history of what happened to the Kent State students will renew our commitment to "no more," even as occurred in the summer following these events. Some of us will never forget, some of us need to remember, and some of us may need to learn from this history to avoid repeating it.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review galley of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Today (May 4) marks 50 years since the shootings that took the lives of four Kent State students and wounded nine others, some disabled for life. I grew up about 35 miles from Kent in nearby Youngstown. Sandy Scheuer, a student walking between classes, grew up in Boardman, a Youngstown suburb. She was a sweet, apolitical, speech pathology major until one of the shots severed her jugular. She bled to death in minutes. I was a high school sophomore at the time. We walked around school the day after utterly stunned.
The others who died were Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, and Bill Schroeder. This new graphic non-fiction work by Derf Backderf traces the last days and final moments of these four students, from May 1 to May 4. It also covers the events surrounding the shootings. It begins with the announcement of Richard Nixon of the expansion of the Vietnam conflict into Cambodia, and the student reaction, including extensive rioting at Ohio State, a debacle for then governor James Rhodes, running for Senate. with a primary election coming up that week. Backderf profiles the Ohio National Guard, portraying these "weekend warriors" as coming into Kent from a tense standoff between teamsters and "scab" truckers in nearby Richfield. Short of sleep and already on edge from fear of snipers and other attacks, they arrive in Kent confronting students who have gutted a number of downtown businesses, and set an ROTC building on fire. Furthermore, a swirl of rumored threats put them on further edge.
Bill Schroeder was an ROTC student, likable yet a serious student with increasing doubts about the war. Jeff Miller, a transfer student loved the Kent bar and music scene but was increasingly upset by the war, and the Guard presence, having been gassed and eluded helicopter surveillance to get back to his home. Allison Krause, a politically engaged student also had encounters with an increasingly hostile Guard, and was amid the demonstrators. Both Schroeder and Scheuer were in a parking lot more than 400 feet from where the shots were fired. The closest students were at least 150 feet away. Backderf's accounts of these students corresponds to others I've read.
While Backderf's focus is on the students, he does explore radical elements with the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weatherman that had been on campus, but apparently cleared out before the student demonstrations on May 4. Unfortunately, Jeff Miller's red headband, matched descriptions of the headwear of some of the radicals. Backderf also gives attention to a suspicious photographer, Terry Norman, apparently working for the FBI or another agency. Backderf note that he was armed and in the middle of the demonstrations on May 4. He also explores the possibilities of significant government infiltration of the campus prior to the shootings.
Two things stand out in the account of the shooting. One is the origin of the shooting. Backderf, like others, cannot come to a definitive conclusion, beyond focusing on Company G, and the reported huddle that occurred in the minutes before they opened fire. All the Guardsman were "locked and loaded" meaning that had live ammunition clips in their semiautomatic rifles, with a round in the firing chamber. Guns were reloaded with new clips afterward and no one was ever held accountable for the shootings.
The other thing that "graphically" stood out was the portrayal of the deaths and wounds of each student, including portrayals of entry and exit wounds, along with text describing the damage rendered by each bullet that struck a student. The force of an M-16 gunshot can fatally wound at 2 miles. One round penetrated a plate of steel in a sculpture. I have seen the bullet hole. Casualty numbers do not convey the terror of those moments, how the students who died never had a chance, and the utter waste of what occurred.
Although this is a graphic work, it is not fiction but an attempt to render the history of these events graphically. The artist spent time onsite, and his renderings of places, including Kent's downtown bars is accurate. He interviewed people close to the four students and spent extensive time in other interviews and in the Kent archives. The back matter includes extensive notes detailing Backderf's research.
On this 50th anniversary, amid a time of a country in a health crisis, an economic crisis, and already facing deep divisions, this book portrays how demonstrations can go horribly wrong. Violent words can accelerate to property damage and attacks on others. Sometimes, the forces called to intervene are not adequately prepared or properly led. Political officials at every layer of government can de-escalate or exacerbate tensions by their words and actions.
The subtitle of this work is "Four Dead in Ohio," quoting the words from "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, released later that summer. At the conclusion of performances, these words are followed by "how many more?" I hope this work, conveying the history of what happened to the Kent State students will renew our commitment to "no more," even as occurred in the summer following these events. Some of us will never forget, some of us need to remember, and some of us may need to learn from this history to avoid repeating it.
________________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review galley of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
June 27, 2023
This is a history in graphic novel format of the events that culminated in the deaths of four Kent State University students on May 4, 1970. Students were protesting the escalation of the war in southeast Asia, a few days after President Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia, during a time when the armed forces were primarily composed of draftees, not volunteers. They were let down by the greed, stupidity, and/or incompetence of University, National Guard, and political officials, all of which Backderf documents, explains, and portrays with meticulous attention to accuracy, fairness, and detail. Reading and considering a non-fiction book about a subject with which one has some knowledge and peripheral familiarity is quite a different experience from judging a work of fiction. I attended Kent State a few years later but was not there on the fateful day, but the campus and surroundings are very accurately shown as they were at the time, down to the little black squirrels that inhabit the campus. The girl who was to become my future wife lived in Metcalf Hall, just as one of the victims, Allison Krause, did for two quarters, and we had our first date at the restaurant that's on page 128 of the book. (We're still married, forty-seven years later!) Backderf discusses the protests that were held on the Ohio State campus a week or so prior to those at Kent, and I was present at some of that. My stepmother was a faculty advisor to student teachers and had taken me with her on the day that they erupted most violently. I remember she brought several of her students home with us because no one knew what was happening except that the area wasn't safe, and our little house in Bexley was full of people trying to wash the stench of tear gas out of their clothes for the next few days. May 4, 1970, was an unforgettable day for members of my generation, just as November 22, 1963, had been for my parents' generation and December 7, 1941, had been for their parents, and September 11, 2001, was for my children's. I had some misgivings that a book in sequential-art format might perhaps lack the gravitas and respect that the history deserved, but I found the book to be insightful, educational, and quite moving. It has my high and sincere recommendation.
April 9, 2022
Read for MLIS elective
RTC???? My heart is a shell right now.
Content warning: period typical racism/sexism/ableism, police brutality, murder, violence (stabbing, beating), gun violence, fire (arson), blood, gore/dismemberment, drug use (marijuana)
RTC???? My heart is a shell right now.
Content warning: period typical racism/sexism/ableism, police brutality, murder, violence (stabbing, beating), gun violence, fire (arson), blood, gore/dismemberment, drug use (marijuana)
August 2, 2021
I am struggling to write much on this because every time I start my thoughts splinter into emotions. Backderf accomplished something that I find few books and graphic novels do: breathing life into the precious connections / relationships that people form in a lifetime. Bravo with tears.
February 10, 2020
It's the 50th anniversary of the blood shed that occurred at Kent State. While I was familiar with the happenings, I wasn't really educated in the history and what was currently happening within our nation, causing these events to unfold. Told in a graphic novel, Backderf takes us into the state of affairs within the state of Ohio and specifically the college campuses in the state. Demonstrating well researched historical information and interviews with those who had first hand experiences during this event, Backderf educates readers in a simple yet impactful way. After finishing this book I was intrigued and interested in learning more. Reading this story sparked conversations within our household and caused conversations around what we could have done differently, what the atmosphere must have been like for both National Guardsmen as well as students on campus, how it compares to the events of today and how the events at Kent State influenced future changes in many different areas. This isn't a book I would normally pickup and I'm glad I was selected to do an early review as I may have missed a great learning experience and genre of reading in the style of a graphic novel.
February 28, 2022
On May 4, 1970, four unarmed college students were shot dead and nine wounded. In 13 seconds, 67 shots were fired. An antiwar protest had evolved into a demonstration against the actions and occupation of the National Guard at Kent State University when the National Guardsmen countered with deadly force.
In a 50th anniversary comic commemoration, the author skillfully details and illustrates the final four days of the lives of the victims and the events leading to this tragedy. Backderf’s research was impressive. The author listened and/or read oral recordings and interviews of the witnesses and participants. He reviewed 76 boxes of materials at Yale University, investigative reports, deposition and trial transcripts, books, newspaper archives, photographs, and maps.
A few days earlier, the author as a child saw these guardsmen in another town. They had been sent to stop a teamsters’ strike at a trucking depot.
After a riot in Kent, Ohio erupted resulting in vandalism and a violent clash between police and protestors over President Richard Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia and to continue the Vietnam War, instead of withdrawing as he had promised, a state of emergency was declared. Between 800 to 1200 Ohio National Guardsmen descended on first the town of Kent and then the campus. A military state imposing martial law ensued as assemblies were banned, curfews imposed, identifications checked, and guns with bayonets and tear gas used to silence the protesters. Most of the activists and radicals had fled leaving behind a majority of students who had nothing to do with the unrest. Against a background of rumors, conspiracies, and undercover operations, the guardsmen’s aggression increased. When the ROTC building was burned down, the school should have been immediately closed. There was a failure of intelligence. The recklessness of those in charge was profound.
“Four students are killed, and nine are shot and wounded, two of who are crippled for life. Only eight of the 13 were protesters. Most were shot in the back or while diving for cover.”
Remember their names:
Jeffrey "Jeff" Miller, 20 years old, a New Yorker, who had recently transferred from Michigan State University to Kent State, loved to drum, had quickly adapted to his new school, and was one of the protesters. A Pulitzer-winning photograph shows runaway, Mary Ann Vecchio, kneeling by his body.
Allison Krause, 19 years old, who was an honors student from Ohio, participated in the protests with her boyfriend. They were looking forward to transferring schools. She had a kitten in her dorm room.
Sandra “Sandy” Scheuer, 20 years old, was an honors student in speech therapy from Ohio. She was walking between classes. She loved to cook and invite friends over to eat.
William “Bill” Schroeder, 19 years old. Born in Ohio, he was an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) student majoring in psychology, who loved the Rolling Stones. He was walking between classes.
Kent State, the Guardsmen, state authorities, and law enforcement all tried to justify the shootings through absurd claims and lies and coverups. All eight guardsmen were acquitted at the criminal trial. A civil case was settled. No one was held accountable. The truth as to who shot these students will never be known.
A powerful and well researched graphic book that I highly recommend. 5 stars.
In a 50th anniversary comic commemoration, the author skillfully details and illustrates the final four days of the lives of the victims and the events leading to this tragedy. Backderf’s research was impressive. The author listened and/or read oral recordings and interviews of the witnesses and participants. He reviewed 76 boxes of materials at Yale University, investigative reports, deposition and trial transcripts, books, newspaper archives, photographs, and maps.
A few days earlier, the author as a child saw these guardsmen in another town. They had been sent to stop a teamsters’ strike at a trucking depot.
After a riot in Kent, Ohio erupted resulting in vandalism and a violent clash between police and protestors over President Richard Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia and to continue the Vietnam War, instead of withdrawing as he had promised, a state of emergency was declared. Between 800 to 1200 Ohio National Guardsmen descended on first the town of Kent and then the campus. A military state imposing martial law ensued as assemblies were banned, curfews imposed, identifications checked, and guns with bayonets and tear gas used to silence the protesters. Most of the activists and radicals had fled leaving behind a majority of students who had nothing to do with the unrest. Against a background of rumors, conspiracies, and undercover operations, the guardsmen’s aggression increased. When the ROTC building was burned down, the school should have been immediately closed. There was a failure of intelligence. The recklessness of those in charge was profound.
“Four students are killed, and nine are shot and wounded, two of who are crippled for life. Only eight of the 13 were protesters. Most were shot in the back or while diving for cover.”
Remember their names:
Jeffrey "Jeff" Miller, 20 years old, a New Yorker, who had recently transferred from Michigan State University to Kent State, loved to drum, had quickly adapted to his new school, and was one of the protesters. A Pulitzer-winning photograph shows runaway, Mary Ann Vecchio, kneeling by his body.
Allison Krause, 19 years old, who was an honors student from Ohio, participated in the protests with her boyfriend. They were looking forward to transferring schools. She had a kitten in her dorm room.
Sandra “Sandy” Scheuer, 20 years old, was an honors student in speech therapy from Ohio. She was walking between classes. She loved to cook and invite friends over to eat.
William “Bill” Schroeder, 19 years old. Born in Ohio, he was an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) student majoring in psychology, who loved the Rolling Stones. He was walking between classes.
Kent State, the Guardsmen, state authorities, and law enforcement all tried to justify the shootings through absurd claims and lies and coverups. All eight guardsmen were acquitted at the criminal trial. A civil case was settled. No one was held accountable. The truth as to who shot these students will never be known.
A powerful and well researched graphic book that I highly recommend. 5 stars.
March 20, 2021
I found this on my local library’s website. I’m so glad I got to it.
It’s a lesson in the more things change, the more things stay the same. This chronicles the events leading up to the slaying of four students on Kent’s campus during protests in May of 1970. This gives a snapshot into student life on the campus and the tumultuous time in our nation’s history. It helps give a clear understanding of how the students are held in disdain by the community; how the students are trying to make sense of the Vietnam War; the role of the National Guard during riots and protests during this time; and the politics of Nixon.
It’s a sad day when innocent people are slain; it’s made more sad when no one is held responsible.
It’s a lesson in the more things change, the more things stay the same. This chronicles the events leading up to the slaying of four students on Kent’s campus during protests in May of 1970. This gives a snapshot into student life on the campus and the tumultuous time in our nation’s history. It helps give a clear understanding of how the students are held in disdain by the community; how the students are trying to make sense of the Vietnam War; the role of the National Guard during riots and protests during this time; and the politics of Nixon.
It’s a sad day when innocent people are slain; it’s made more sad when no one is held responsible.
September 28, 2023
Maybe I'm fulfilling some kind of stereotype, but I've long been fascinated by the social movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. As such, I'd already read a book with this title and subject ( Kent State: What Happened and Why), years and years ago. I've read and enjoyed much of Backderf's work, so I was intrigued to get his take.
Since it had been so many years since I'd read it, I didn't remember many details or names. So, I was surprised by elements of the ending.
Backderf's illustrative style feels well suited to the subject matter and time period. All the illustrations are in grayscale/black and white. Backderf includes over twenty pages of notes and citations (all of which I read). Great way to consume history.
Since it had been so many years since I'd read it, I didn't remember many details or names. So, I was surprised by elements of the ending.
Backderf's illustrative style feels well suited to the subject matter and time period. All the illustrations are in grayscale/black and white. Backderf includes over twenty pages of notes and citations (all of which I read). Great way to consume history.
October 20, 2020
This book is an achievement of line work and layout. Derf's artwork is well-suited to the juxtaposition of 70s student-activists and over-armed National Guardsmen. The dialog doesn't read as realistic, but that's okay because it's still effective and thought-provoking.
Want to read
April 25, 2024an event in history that for some reason many don’t know about and something that’s incredibly relevant given the times. 🍉
May 31, 2020
Full Disclosure: This was a free read thanks to the Goodreads Giveaway Program
This has been sitting on my to read shelf for sometime, however with what has been going on in the world over the last couple of days due to the travesty of death of George Floyd and all of the ongoing protests, riots, and cries for social change, I thought this was an appropriate time to dive in.
I found this to be an awkward read as the artwork to me gave a more lighthearted view of the tragic events at Kent State back in 1970. I am not saying that was the intent, but I do believe that a different artist wouldve been more impactful to me. Much of the read came across as one persons interpretation of the events while also acting as an historic retrospective. I think in truth it was a combination of the two as there is plenty of factual references, footnotes, and acknowledgements, but again, I think the delivery hinders the intent. I would also tend to say that those who are not a comic fan like myself would immediately write this off thus losing a large share of potential audience members.
As I progressed through the story however, I did become more entrenched and intrigued. Nothing really new was revealed to me as this is a point in history that I have had much interest in over the years diving into many documentaries, articles, books, etc., however I do think this may become an excellent starting point for younger uninformed readers.
What hit me most, as I mentioned earlier that I read this over the weekend while the May 2020 George Floyd protests happened, were the countless, and I mean COUNTLESS, similarities to the treatment, response, and interaction with the protestors. Many of the same tactics were used, including lack of communication, responses by law enforcement, National Guard, and protestors, many of the same conspiracy theories such as law enforcement plants in the protest community, the treatment of the opposition (again Law Enforcement and Protestors) as sub-human and monstrous. We apparently havent learned much over the years based on past events, thus history continues to repeat.
This has been sitting on my to read shelf for sometime, however with what has been going on in the world over the last couple of days due to the travesty of death of George Floyd and all of the ongoing protests, riots, and cries for social change, I thought this was an appropriate time to dive in.
I found this to be an awkward read as the artwork to me gave a more lighthearted view of the tragic events at Kent State back in 1970. I am not saying that was the intent, but I do believe that a different artist wouldve been more impactful to me. Much of the read came across as one persons interpretation of the events while also acting as an historic retrospective. I think in truth it was a combination of the two as there is plenty of factual references, footnotes, and acknowledgements, but again, I think the delivery hinders the intent. I would also tend to say that those who are not a comic fan like myself would immediately write this off thus losing a large share of potential audience members.
As I progressed through the story however, I did become more entrenched and intrigued. Nothing really new was revealed to me as this is a point in history that I have had much interest in over the years diving into many documentaries, articles, books, etc., however I do think this may become an excellent starting point for younger uninformed readers.
What hit me most, as I mentioned earlier that I read this over the weekend while the May 2020 George Floyd protests happened, were the countless, and I mean COUNTLESS, similarities to the treatment, response, and interaction with the protestors. Many of the same tactics were used, including lack of communication, responses by law enforcement, National Guard, and protestors, many of the same conspiracy theories such as law enforcement plants in the protest community, the treatment of the opposition (again Law Enforcement and Protestors) as sub-human and monstrous. We apparently havent learned much over the years based on past events, thus history continues to repeat.
December 16, 2021
Derf Backderfin "Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio" (Abrams, 2020) vie lukijan viidenkymmenen vuoden taakse, jolloin tilanne USA:ssa oli vielä jännittyneempi kuin nykyään. Vietnamissa sotiminen kiihtyi, kampuksilla protestoitiin ja kansalliskaarti kutsuttiin kehiin kovat piipussa. Kaikki huipentui traagisesti Kentin osavaltionyliopistossa keväällä 1970. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tekivät aiheesta kaikkien aikojen protestilauluksi valitun "Ohion", josta myös sarjakuva-albumin alanimeke on napattu.
Sarjakuva on informatiivinen, dramaattinen ja tunteisiin menevä - siis kaikin puolin huima sarjakuvateos, joka ilmestyy ensi vuoden puolella myös suomeksi. Mahtavaa! Aiheesta kiinnostuneiden kannattaa etsiä käsiinsä myös Peter Doggettin tietokirja There's A Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of '60s Counter-Culture.
Sarjakuva on informatiivinen, dramaattinen ja tunteisiin menevä - siis kaikin puolin huima sarjakuvateos, joka ilmestyy ensi vuoden puolella myös suomeksi. Mahtavaa! Aiheesta kiinnostuneiden kannattaa etsiä käsiinsä myös Peter Doggettin tietokirja There's A Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of '60s Counter-Culture.
June 18, 2022
Backderf does an excellent job of sharing the events of May 4th, 1970 at Kent State, along with the personalities involved and the surrounding events. Be sure to read all of the huge amounts of notes in the back of the book as you read this graphic novel!
September 30, 2020
2020 may have been an awful year so far, but it has seen some truly stellar books. This graphic-format account of the infamous Kent State massacre of 1970 is one of them.
Reading this book, I could almost hear the famous guitar intro of the iconic CSNY song that gave it its title. I learned so much about the pressure cooker that was Kent State in the days leading up to the tragedy. The story is far more convoluted than most realize, but this book excels at making the events clear and immediate.
The unusually -monikered creator is becoming a true force in the comics world. The illustrations are fantastic and expressive, and you could see Backderf's dedication to honoring the memory of the victims and being as historically accurate as possible.
KENT STATE will educate, inform, and provoke thought and recognition of many aspects of our contentious present era.
Reading this book, I could almost hear the famous guitar intro of the iconic CSNY song that gave it its title. I learned so much about the pressure cooker that was Kent State in the days leading up to the tragedy. The story is far more convoluted than most realize, but this book excels at making the events clear and immediate.
The unusually -monikered creator is becoming a true force in the comics world. The illustrations are fantastic and expressive, and you could see Backderf's dedication to honoring the memory of the victims and being as historically accurate as possible.
KENT STATE will educate, inform, and provoke thought and recognition of many aspects of our contentious present era.
November 9, 2020
I’ve been reading a lot of books from this era, which is also the time my memory begins as a preteen. There are a lot of similarities to the times we bemoan today. That gives me an odd sense of relief — things will just chug along regardless of dire predictions. I felt the same unearned sense of calm at the beginning of this thoroughly researched book on the tragedy of Kent State. Then I was anxious, overtaken by a feeling of foreboding. I knew what was coming, but it didn’t matter. This straight forward history told through the eyes of those who lived it is a powerful and emotional testament to what happened and could happen again.
March 30, 2020
My interview feature with Derf Backderf is up on Publisher's Weekly: https://bit.ly/3asoNpq
This is one of the best graphic novels I've read in the last five years. This May will be the 50th Anniversary of the tragedy, though from what I understand publication is being delayed to September due to the Coronavirus crisis. Whenever it comes out I highly recommend it.
This is one of the best graphic novels I've read in the last five years. This May will be the 50th Anniversary of the tragedy, though from what I understand publication is being delayed to September due to the Coronavirus crisis. Whenever it comes out I highly recommend it.
April 9, 2021
And today I'm looking at the nonfiction work Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf and published just a few months ago in September 2020.
Content Notes for violent historic event, military violence against civilians, mass shooting, union busting, lots of guns, arson, use of tear gas, and bleeding to death.
As far as the nature of the violence goes, while succinct it is graphic. All the content notes I listed happen in frame.
From Ohio, I've actually been following Derf Backderf on facebook for a long time. He is perhaps most famous for his nonfiction work My Friend Dahmer, which I reviewed previously in a wrap-up that's now private. He also wrote a fictional story based off his time as a garbageman that has been on my TBR for a while. And drawing from his wikipedia page, the hive mind says "Backderf's art has been compared to Robert Crumb, with his use of black to "project character and menace" praised.[3] Derf cites Crumb as an influence, along with Mad Magazine and Spain Rodriguez. He cites Expressionism as the inspiration for his usage of heavy ink, but feels the major influence on his work is the imagery of punk."
The focus of the book is obviously the historic massacre of university students by the american national guard during the Vietnam war. Backderf does a very good job of not only retelling the events leading up to the massacre, as well as citing all his sources, but also filling out the context of many other things that were also happening at the time. Obviously a book a long time in the making, it's an excellent reminder of how redundant history and current events can be. In particular, the way in which the Students for a Democratic Society (aka SDS) and Weather Underground were constantly brought up reminded me a lot of how people were discussing antifascists this past year.
The Goodreads summery is as follows: " 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 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. Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, which will be published in time for the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, is a moving and troubling story about the bitter price of dissent—as relevant today as it was in 1970."
A tad bit on the thicker and (in my initial perception) wordier side, I certainly thought I would find this book more intimidating then it ended up being. A very engrossing story, Backderf uses text much more judiciously then I realized and a there is a lot communicated visually with highly varied page layouts.
As I already mentioned, I did feel like this book does try and fill out some of the context around the events pretty well. Not only in how terrifying having an ongoing draft would be to people who might get pulled into a war at any moment, but also in showing some of the other struggles that were also happening at the same time. SDS and Weather Underground were obviously referenced quite a lot, we also get glimpses of some labour struggles, and the dynamics of race (at least as far as notions of Black and white) do make an appearance. It was also interesting to see how the community around Kent State was changed by the presence of the growing university and how they reacted to the events this book covers.
While there was not a whole lot of disability representation per say, I did appreciate the way that Backderf represented the spectrum of ways people were impacted by the shooting. Obviously four people died, but a number of people were severely injured and had to live with that for the rest of their lives. On the negative side however someone does call another person a gimp, which seems realistic for the time I guess but I wanted to give people the heads up.
Sexuality is perhaps the most glossed over, but I could see how that might not have played a role in these particular historic events.
Thinking about how I would rate this book I do think it will have to be a five out of five stars. You cannot deny that Backderf is extremely good at what he does, and the skill with which this very important story is told cannot be denied. The one thing I generally look for in nonfiction that I am perhaps giving this book a bit of a pass on is its lack of perspective. Obviously there is a small spot at the beginning where Backderf does depict his own place in relation to events, but usually I would want a bit more. I feel like I didn't look for that as much in this book because I do follow him on social media and I already knew how local and personal this story felt to him. Just for all y'all keeping score at home.
If I ever have time in my busy schedule I will definitely be visiting and revisiting more of Backderf's work.
Content Notes for violent historic event, military violence against civilians, mass shooting, union busting, lots of guns, arson, use of tear gas, and bleeding to death.
As far as the nature of the violence goes, while succinct it is graphic. All the content notes I listed happen in frame.
From Ohio, I've actually been following Derf Backderf on facebook for a long time. He is perhaps most famous for his nonfiction work My Friend Dahmer, which I reviewed previously in a wrap-up that's now private. He also wrote a fictional story based off his time as a garbageman that has been on my TBR for a while. And drawing from his wikipedia page, the hive mind says "Backderf's art has been compared to Robert Crumb, with his use of black to "project character and menace" praised.[3] Derf cites Crumb as an influence, along with Mad Magazine and Spain Rodriguez. He cites Expressionism as the inspiration for his usage of heavy ink, but feels the major influence on his work is the imagery of punk."
The focus of the book is obviously the historic massacre of university students by the american national guard during the Vietnam war. Backderf does a very good job of not only retelling the events leading up to the massacre, as well as citing all his sources, but also filling out the context of many other things that were also happening at the time. Obviously a book a long time in the making, it's an excellent reminder of how redundant history and current events can be. In particular, the way in which the Students for a Democratic Society (aka SDS) and Weather Underground were constantly brought up reminded me a lot of how people were discussing antifascists this past year.
The Goodreads summery is as follows: " 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 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. Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, which will be published in time for the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, is a moving and troubling story about the bitter price of dissent—as relevant today as it was in 1970."
A tad bit on the thicker and (in my initial perception) wordier side, I certainly thought I would find this book more intimidating then it ended up being. A very engrossing story, Backderf uses text much more judiciously then I realized and a there is a lot communicated visually with highly varied page layouts.
As I already mentioned, I did feel like this book does try and fill out some of the context around the events pretty well. Not only in how terrifying having an ongoing draft would be to people who might get pulled into a war at any moment, but also in showing some of the other struggles that were also happening at the same time. SDS and Weather Underground were obviously referenced quite a lot, we also get glimpses of some labour struggles, and the dynamics of race (at least as far as notions of Black and white) do make an appearance. It was also interesting to see how the community around Kent State was changed by the presence of the growing university and how they reacted to the events this book covers.
While there was not a whole lot of disability representation per say, I did appreciate the way that Backderf represented the spectrum of ways people were impacted by the shooting. Obviously four people died, but a number of people were severely injured and had to live with that for the rest of their lives. On the negative side however someone does call another person a gimp, which seems realistic for the time I guess but I wanted to give people the heads up.
Sexuality is perhaps the most glossed over, but I could see how that might not have played a role in these particular historic events.
Thinking about how I would rate this book I do think it will have to be a five out of five stars. You cannot deny that Backderf is extremely good at what he does, and the skill with which this very important story is told cannot be denied. The one thing I generally look for in nonfiction that I am perhaps giving this book a bit of a pass on is its lack of perspective. Obviously there is a small spot at the beginning where Backderf does depict his own place in relation to events, but usually I would want a bit more. I feel like I didn't look for that as much in this book because I do follow him on social media and I already knew how local and personal this story felt to him. Just for all y'all keeping score at home.
If I ever have time in my busy schedule I will definitely be visiting and revisiting more of Backderf's work.
September 28, 2023
JFC. I didn't know any of this, and left to my own devices, I don't know if i ever would have. Backderf continues to be a clear, brilliant voice in the medium.
September 15, 2023
As a fan of Derf Backderf’s prior graphic novels (My Friend Dahmer, Trashed & Punk Rocks and Trailer Parks), I knew I wanted to read his newest book that gives a thorough look at the May 4th, 1970 tragedy at Kent State University in Ohio.
Backderf recreates the days leading up to the shooting and we are introduced to four students- Allison Beth Krause, 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, and William Knox Schroeder, 19- knowing the entire time they will die. He inserts himself into the story briefly, for as a child he lived nearby and saw the National Guard protecting his hometown while the Teamsters Union was on strike. It would be some of these guards who were then deployed to Kent State when tensions arose. With the Vietnam War ongoing, students were protesting, as many of the male students had the specter of the draft hanging over them. Background knowledge is worked into the panels, as we learn about how political and social tensions morphed into a crisis because many campus and town leaders operated out of fear and faulty information. Contributing to local tensions were military leaders who were unequipped to handle the volatile environment and meddling government agencies that were adding more issues to the already challenging situation. A powder keg was ready to explode with one wrong move, and there were many made that tragic day.
Backderf’s artwork is very reminiscent of Robert Crumb and of Don Martin from Mad magazine, with an underground comix vibe. It is all drawn in black and white, and while not an attractive art style, it really represents the 70s era and Ohio landscape well. Of all the four books I have read by Derf, this is the one I found the most authentically drawn, for in past books there was a touch of caricature in the people, but here he based his drawings on photographs and videos of the campus students. While there are some text-heavy panels, they are crucial to understanding, and some maps of the day’s events help too.
I applaud the author for pulling together this comprehensive narrative, for he put in the work by interviewing survivors and researching the information that would guide his story, as extensive notes show how his work was led by facts and not conjecture. A heartbreaking author’s note sadly shows how the mistakes made were covered up, and fifty years later no one takes responsibility or accountability for the shootings. Plus, the short epilogue shows the callousness shown by President Nixon, reminds me sadly of some current politicians, and how the American public is still struggling today with certain political issues. This was a truly thought-provoking graphic novel and is well worth a read.
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2021/12/0...
Backderf recreates the days leading up to the shooting and we are introduced to four students- Allison Beth Krause, 19, Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20, Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20, and William Knox Schroeder, 19- knowing the entire time they will die. He inserts himself into the story briefly, for as a child he lived nearby and saw the National Guard protecting his hometown while the Teamsters Union was on strike. It would be some of these guards who were then deployed to Kent State when tensions arose. With the Vietnam War ongoing, students were protesting, as many of the male students had the specter of the draft hanging over them. Background knowledge is worked into the panels, as we learn about how political and social tensions morphed into a crisis because many campus and town leaders operated out of fear and faulty information. Contributing to local tensions were military leaders who were unequipped to handle the volatile environment and meddling government agencies that were adding more issues to the already challenging situation. A powder keg was ready to explode with one wrong move, and there were many made that tragic day.
Backderf’s artwork is very reminiscent of Robert Crumb and of Don Martin from Mad magazine, with an underground comix vibe. It is all drawn in black and white, and while not an attractive art style, it really represents the 70s era and Ohio landscape well. Of all the four books I have read by Derf, this is the one I found the most authentically drawn, for in past books there was a touch of caricature in the people, but here he based his drawings on photographs and videos of the campus students. While there are some text-heavy panels, they are crucial to understanding, and some maps of the day’s events help too.
I applaud the author for pulling together this comprehensive narrative, for he put in the work by interviewing survivors and researching the information that would guide his story, as extensive notes show how his work was led by facts and not conjecture. A heartbreaking author’s note sadly shows how the mistakes made were covered up, and fifty years later no one takes responsibility or accountability for the shootings. Plus, the short epilogue shows the callousness shown by President Nixon, reminds me sadly of some current politicians, and how the American public is still struggling today with certain political issues. This was a truly thought-provoking graphic novel and is well worth a read.
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2021/12/0...
February 8, 2024
Regarding the Kent State massacre:
My vague, uninformed impression of the Kent State killings had been of a line of soldiers facing down a horde of screaming, rock-throwing students. The author disabuses us of the notion that the Guard could have been in danger, telling the story of the four days of unrest leading up to the mass shooting. The Guardsmen were sleep-deprived, irritated at their deployment, frustrated by the endless protests, and self-teargassed due to leaky gasmasks. The protesters had mostly dispersed already. There was no justification for what happened.
Derf sets out to humanize the young men and women who were shot, many of whom were random bystanders. Students walking to their next class. Some were more than two football fields away from the shooters. Lost in the focus on the four deaths is the horrifying impact on the other victims. One survivor was shot through the mouth. Another had his foot shot off. A third was shot through the spine and paralyzed. The nine survivors had organs ruptured, bones shattered, normal human functions destroyed.
Even more gut-wrenching than the killings was what happened in the aftermath and the lack of fallout.
--The Guard's weapon signout records disappeared and were never seen again; there was no way to identify individual shooters.
--The survivors and the families of the dead received hatemail smeared with feces.
--58% of Americans blamed the students; 11% blamed the shooters.
--A week later, the Kent Record Courier ran a publisher ad that read THANK YOU OHIO NATIONAL GUARD.
--The law'n'order governor who sent in the Guard surged in the polls and went on to serve two more terms.
--In 1974, eight shooters were indicted on federal charges but the judge threw the case out and acquitted them. Four of the shooters autographed an evidentiary photo of the shooting.
--No shooter, official, or politician was ever held accountable.
---------------------------------
Regarding this book:
Derf does a masterful job bringing the victims to life, making them more than just "Four Dead!" in a headline. They mattered.
The transitions between storytelling and journalistic accounting of events were awkward.
Too much page space was spent on speculation about how many spies and agents provocateur were running around on behalf of the Nixonian feds and reactionary local police departments. It wasn't baseless speculation, but I felt like it was working against the sense of neutral reporting that grounded the other non-story sections of the book. An inconsistent tone.
Derf's signature b&w illustration is functional, but the way he draws philtra makes every single character look like they have drippy noses.
My vague, uninformed impression of the Kent State killings had been of a line of soldiers facing down a horde of screaming, rock-throwing students. The author disabuses us of the notion that the Guard could have been in danger, telling the story of the four days of unrest leading up to the mass shooting. The Guardsmen were sleep-deprived, irritated at their deployment, frustrated by the endless protests, and self-teargassed due to leaky gasmasks. The protesters had mostly dispersed already. There was no justification for what happened.
Derf sets out to humanize the young men and women who were shot, many of whom were random bystanders. Students walking to their next class. Some were more than two football fields away from the shooters. Lost in the focus on the four deaths is the horrifying impact on the other victims. One survivor was shot through the mouth. Another had his foot shot off. A third was shot through the spine and paralyzed. The nine survivors had organs ruptured, bones shattered, normal human functions destroyed.
Even more gut-wrenching than the killings was what happened in the aftermath and the lack of fallout.
--The Guard's weapon signout records disappeared and were never seen again; there was no way to identify individual shooters.
--The survivors and the families of the dead received hatemail smeared with feces.
--58% of Americans blamed the students; 11% blamed the shooters.
--A week later, the Kent Record Courier ran a publisher ad that read THANK YOU OHIO NATIONAL GUARD.
--The law'n'order governor who sent in the Guard surged in the polls and went on to serve two more terms.
--In 1974, eight shooters were indicted on federal charges but the judge threw the case out and acquitted them. Four of the shooters autographed an evidentiary photo of the shooting.
--No shooter, official, or politician was ever held accountable.
---------------------------------
Regarding this book:
Derf does a masterful job bringing the victims to life, making them more than just "Four Dead!" in a headline. They mattered.
The transitions between storytelling and journalistic accounting of events were awkward.
Too much page space was spent on speculation about how many spies and agents provocateur were running around on behalf of the Nixonian feds and reactionary local police departments. It wasn't baseless speculation, but I felt like it was working against the sense of neutral reporting that grounded the other non-story sections of the book. An inconsistent tone.
Derf's signature b&w illustration is functional, but the way he draws philtra makes every single character look like they have drippy noses.
March 28, 2021
I had little knowledge of the Kent State shootings before going into Derf Backderf's Kent State - now I have altogether too much knowledge. The events were tragic and predictable, another example of escalating misunderstandings in a world with too little trust and too much paranoia. Hard to read Kent State and not think of the past summer of protests, or any of the exclamations that this time, now, is the most divided America has ever been. Perhaps America has always been at its most divided, just in different ways?
I digress. Backderf does an impressive job of pulling together scholarly evidence and minuscule details to create a narrative around the May 4th events. Reading Kent State, I couldn't help but think of how Joe Sacco would have tackled the work. His art style is similar to Backderf's, as is his dedication to detail. I think Sacco would have allowed interviewees to relay their stories as talking heads, which might have been a more effective storytelling method, at least at first. Backderf's choice to craft a narrative often puts awkward, scene-setting words into the mouth's of real-life humans.
But ultimately, Backderf's choice makes sense and has a surprisingly powerful impact (). I just wish the dialogue wasn't so stilted. That's my only real quibble with Kent State, though. I mean, I read the twenty pages of endnotes. I was invested. You'll have a hard time setting the book down as the tragedy unfolds. And you'll have an even harder time forgetting what went down.
I digress. Backderf does an impressive job of pulling together scholarly evidence and minuscule details to create a narrative around the May 4th events. Reading Kent State, I couldn't help but think of how Joe Sacco would have tackled the work. His art style is similar to Backderf's, as is his dedication to detail. I think Sacco would have allowed interviewees to relay their stories as talking heads, which might have been a more effective storytelling method, at least at first. Backderf's choice to craft a narrative often puts awkward, scene-setting words into the mouth's of real-life humans.
But ultimately, Backderf's choice makes sense and has a surprisingly powerful impact (). I just wish the dialogue wasn't so stilted. That's my only real quibble with Kent State, though. I mean, I read the twenty pages of endnotes. I was invested. You'll have a hard time setting the book down as the tragedy unfolds. And you'll have an even harder time forgetting what went down.
October 2, 2020
I attended Kent State over 30 years after the shootings, but it is still eerie to see and recognize the town and the campus so clearly. Backderf also immerses you in the students and the politicians and the Guard and the atmosphere of paranoia and false news and hatred. Or am I immersed in that in the present day?
Whichever, the raw nerves and anger and confusion that led to the shootings and the denials and incrimination that follow seem immediate and real. Backderf does a truly heroic job of synthesizing all of the Kent State research and eyewitness accounts and theories into a story that seems like it's happening to you.
And given what's been happening lately, is there any reason to think that it couldn't happen to you? Imagine a governor risking the lives of state residents to win reelection. Imagine fear, inability to understand a situation, and hostility toward a misunderstood population causing those in positions of authority to use lethal force beyond what is necessary. Imagine a president who delights in obscuring truth and winning a war against more than half of the country.
Fear in a handful of dust. Read this book.
Whichever, the raw nerves and anger and confusion that led to the shootings and the denials and incrimination that follow seem immediate and real. Backderf does a truly heroic job of synthesizing all of the Kent State research and eyewitness accounts and theories into a story that seems like it's happening to you.
And given what's been happening lately, is there any reason to think that it couldn't happen to you? Imagine a governor risking the lives of state residents to win reelection. Imagine fear, inability to understand a situation, and hostility toward a misunderstood population causing those in positions of authority to use lethal force beyond what is necessary. Imagine a president who delights in obscuring truth and winning a war against more than half of the country.
Fear in a handful of dust. Read this book.
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