Kent State

An American Tragedy

By: Brian VanDeMark

Narrated by: Daniel Henning

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 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.

Kent State meticulously re-creates the divided cultural landscape of America during the Vietnam War and popular anxieties around the country. On college campuses, teach-ins, sit-down strikes, and demonstrations exposed the growing rift between the left and the right. Many students opposed the war as unjust and were uneasy over poor and working-class kids drafted and sent to Vietnam in their place. Some developed a hatred for the military, the police, and everything associated with authority, while others resolved to uphold law and order at any cost.

Focusing on the thirteen victims of the Kent State shooting and a painstaking reconstruction of the days surrounding it, historian Brian VanDeMark draws on crucial new research and interviews—including, for the first time, the perspective of guardsmen who were there. The result is a complete reckoning with the tragedy that marked the end of the sixties.

©2024 Brian VanDeMark (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Solid History told from Participants’ Perspective (Narrator almost damaged my phone)

Author uses extensive interviews to bring the history to life and does an especially good job on the aftermath, especially the trials. Those shot and wounded, most suffering lifelong pain, receive much more attention than is typical. National Guard and the students both humanized and treated with fairness. Some new revelations as to what likely sparked the shooting spree.
The audio narrator is fine with straight narration but when he tries to dramatize the voices, it is cringe inducing, especially his crying voice (which is the same for everyone, just going up a few octaves for women.) If a hardcover or paperback book ever annoyed me this much I’d throw it, but since I listened to this book on my iPhone I had to check this overwhelming impulse. He goes into his whiney crying voice so much it occasionally spills into straight narrative when no one is being quoted.
A rare audio book I wish I had just read.

Disappointed

As a NE Ohio native who graduated from high school in 1967, many of my classmates went to nearby Kent. I chose instead to not tempt fate (i.e. possibly getting drafted and going to Vietnam) and enlisted for guaranteed schooling (electronics) in the Navy instead. I can't really remember why but this pitiful blot on our nation's history mostly escaped my attention at the time. When I saw this title pop up, I decided to try it and see what I could learn. Plus, I've listened to Mr. VanDemark's book about how we got sucked into Vietnam and enjoyed it. I'm a little more than half through this one (the shootings have just occurred) and I'm done. In my view the reader is poor, making the redundancy (particularly the foul language) I've found throughout the story very tedious. What I heard so far however piqued my interest and I've instead gone to Wikipedia and satisfied whatever curiosity I had regarding the incident in about 15 minutes.

TMI

The narrator was not the best. His attempt to imitate female voices was not convincing.