Kent State: An American Tragedy

Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction A Kirkus Reviews and New Yorker Best Book of 2024 “Couldn’t be more relevant.… A strong claim on being the definitive account.” —Clea Simon, Boston Globe A definitive history of the fatal clash between Vietnam War protestors and the National Guard, illuminating its causes and lasting consequences. On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, political fires that had been burning across America during the 1960s exploded. Antiwar protesters wearing bell-bottom jeans and long hair hurled taunts and rocks at another group of young Americans—National Guardsmen sporting gas masks and rifles. At half past noon, violence unfolded with chaotic speed, as guardsmen—many of whom had joined the Guard to escape the draft—opened fire on the students.