Kent State An American tragedy

Historian VanDeMark (Road to Disaster) elicits a startling "belated confession" from former platoon sergeant Matt McManus in this fine-grained examination of the Kent State massacre. On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on student antiwar demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. The slayings triggered national outrage and decades of scrutiny over why the troops fired. VanDeMark's account hinges on interviews with McManus, who claims he shouted an order to "fire in the air" that was misheard as an order to fire on the demonstrators. (He previously admitted giving such an order only after the shooting started.) In addition to showing how this possibility fits with witness testimony, VanDeMark also uses McManus's account and his own exhaustive research into the shooting's aftermath to paint both the guardsmen and the students as victims of a malfunctioning system. It's a somewhat forced bit of bothsidesing that gives an uncomfortable pass to McManus for his years of evasiveness ("People don't withhold the truth unless the whole truth is too much to bear," VanDeMark asserts, a forgiving truism contradicted by McManus's own tacit acknowledgment that he lied to avoid consequences). But VanDeMark's thorough documentation of events is worthwhile, especially for its urgent warnings ("This could happen again easily, if students decide government put up for sale to the highest bidder," one survivor says). It's a significant discovery about an enduring mystery. (Aug.)

A masterful chronicle of the political and cultural divide of the 1960s that culminated in one of the darkest days in U.S. history. In this follow-up to The Road to Disaster, his fresh history of the Vietnam War, VanDeMark--who teaches history at the U.S. Naval Academy and co-authored Robert McNamara's Vietnam memoir--delivers the definitive book about the atrocity that took place at Kent State in early May 1970, when bullets from the guns of the frightened and thoroughly unprepared Ohio National Guard killed and wounded students protesting the war. Few authors have managed to capture the enormous scope and all angles of the political, cultural, and social divide among the citizenry, the counsels of government, and college campuses caused by the war and social unrest of the 1960s. VanDeMark's thorough, balanced, and nuanced reporting, extensive quotes from scores of principals, and vivid, absorbing prose will stay with readers for a long time. He profiles several individuals and families whose lives were shattered by the bullets, details the political and practical considerations of law and order taken by the Ohio's then-governor and those in command of the Ohio National Guard, and thoroughly analyzes the civil and criminal cases that followed. He even shows how merely attempting to commemorate the events of May 1970 generated controversy and polarization: "Two decades passed before an official memorial to the slain students was erected on the Kent State campus in 1990." VanDeMark fully captures the tenor of the times in a book that will appeal to an audience ranging from seasoned historians to younger readers who are unfamiliar with the tragedy. Positive reviews sometimes claim that a book is important for a certain field of study, genre, or aficionado. That is not the case here; this book is simply required reading. VanDeMark's top-notch book embodies the term must-read. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.