Call number
GRAPH N BAC
Collection
Genres
Publication
Harry N. Abrams (2020), Edition: Illustrated, 288 pages
Description
Comic and Graphic Books. Fiction. HTML:From bestselling author Derf Backderf comes the untold story of the Kent State shootingsâ??timed for the 50th anniversary 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 childrenâ??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 dissentâ??as relevant today as it was in 197… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
This is the third Derf Backderf comic my father-in-law (like Derf, a Clevelander) has bought for me, but the first I have gotten around to reading. It chronicles the four days leading up to the Kent State Massacre, especially focusing on the details of the movements of the four students who would
It's a strong piece of graphic nonfiction; the ability of the comics page to alternate between exhaustive written detail and impressionistic visual imagery is well utilized by Backderf. Sometimes, in the actual gunning down of the four, he can use both at once to maximum effect. There's a crushing sense of inevitability to it all, but it's the kind of inevitability that on reflection is not inevitable: it's an inevitability born of bad choices, and if any one of a number of people in positions of power had reacted better, this need not have happened. But none of them had the wisdom or the foresight to act appropriately-- and as Backderf details, they also reacted inappropriately, spending the next couple months spreading misinformation to make themselves look good instead of reacting truthfully.
Backderf has a sort of "indie comix" style that is not "realistic" per se but I think is meant to evoke a feeling of "realism" through exaggeration if that distinction makes sense-- his style wouldn't look out of place on American Splendor, for example. It works well for the buffonish authority figures and the scenes of mob violence; I found it was less successful when it came to differentiating the college kids who form the emotional heart of the story, and I couldn't always remember which one was which. It would be nice to reread it and see if I can keep them straight better, because I think their generic-ness undermined some of the story's emotional impact. But even so, it was impactful, and unfortunately, there are some ways it feels all-too-like the issues Backderf discusses in the 1970s haven't really gone away in the 2010s, and honestly have gotten even worse. (Though on the other hand, his world of politically engaged revolutionary college students seems a world apart from the one I know as a college professor now!)
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end up dying. Backderf's end notes demonstrate copious and seemingly rigorous research, drawing on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, and integrating contradictory information into a coherent narrative; when he is unable to make a clear determination of truth, he explains why he made the choices he did.It's a strong piece of graphic nonfiction; the ability of the comics page to alternate between exhaustive written detail and impressionistic visual imagery is well utilized by Backderf. Sometimes, in the actual gunning down of the four, he can use both at once to maximum effect. There's a crushing sense of inevitability to it all, but it's the kind of inevitability that on reflection is not inevitable: it's an inevitability born of bad choices, and if any one of a number of people in positions of power had reacted better, this need not have happened. But none of them had the wisdom or the foresight to act appropriately-- and as Backderf details, they also reacted inappropriately, spending the next couple months spreading misinformation to make themselves look good instead of reacting truthfully.
Backderf has a sort of "indie comix" style that is not "realistic" per se but I think is meant to evoke a feeling of "realism" through exaggeration if that distinction makes sense-- his style wouldn't look out of place on American Splendor, for example. It works well for the buffonish authority figures and the scenes of mob violence; I found it was less successful when it came to differentiating the college kids who form the emotional heart of the story, and I couldn't always remember which one was which. It would be nice to reread it and see if I can keep them straight better, because I think their generic-ness undermined some of the story's emotional impact. But even so, it was impactful, and unfortunately, there are some ways it feels all-too-like the issues Backderf discusses in the 1970s haven't really gone away in the 2010s, and honestly have gotten even worse. (Though on the other hand, his world of politically engaged revolutionary college students seems a world apart from the one I know as a college professor now!)
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LibraryThing member villemezbrown
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 echo headlines from today's news: a corrupt and paranoid president leads the country, a liberal mainstream protest movement is aswirl in
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 echo headlines from today's news: a corrupt and paranoid president leads the country, a liberal mainstream protest movement is aswirl in
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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.
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LibraryThing member jothebookgirl
This graphic novel is a 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. The author had done and documented his extensive
The situation was violent and graphic as is the novel’s portrayal. The days building to the day of the killings are wrought with tremendous confusion and tension.
This very mature novel which puts the reader right in the middle of the incident.
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research to help us learn the lives of the four students. He even shares their hopes and dreams for the future that was stolen from them. The situation was violent and graphic as is the novel’s portrayal. The days building to the day of the killings are wrought with tremendous confusion and tension.
This very mature novel which puts the reader right in the middle of the incident.
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LibraryThing member lilibrarian
A well-researched and compelling told history of the shooting of Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard during a peaceful protest in 1970.
LibraryThing member electrascaife
A graphic novel of the 1970 protests and shootings on the Kent State campus.
I knew •of• the Kent State incident but despite living in Ohio off and on for 20+ years, I'd never known the details until now, so I'm happy to have read this to get a better sense of what happened. It's a nicely
I knew •of• the Kent State incident but despite living in Ohio off and on for 20+ years, I'd never known the details until now, so I'm happy to have read this to get a better sense of what happened. It's a nicely
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structured account, although be warned that Backderf doesn't do much to hide his opinions on who was in the wrong (I agree with him, but it still reads a little more slanted than an objective account should, so if that's what you'd rather have you won't find it here). Also, I really don't like this illustration style. It's...ugly? And maybe that's partly the point, but my brain just doesn't cotton to it. Show Less
LibraryThing member Danielle.Desrochers
This was so well told. It was well researched and seems accurate. The only thing I wish was a bit different was that it was a bit more clear who we were following at times. But this didn’t detract from the book enough to warrant any star demotion.
Awards
Eisner Award (Nominee — 2021)
Alex Award (2021)
Ohioana Book Award (Finalist — 2021)
Excellence in Graphic Literature Award (Finalist — Adult Non-Fiction — 2021)
NPR: Books We Love (2020)
Just One More Page Recommendation List (Young Adult — 2022)
Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List (Grades 9-12 — 2022)
ISBN
1419734849 / 9781419734847