Kent State: What Happened and Why

by James A. Michener

All of James A. Michener's storytelling and reportorial skills are brought to the fore in this stunning and heartbreaking examination of the events that led to the 1970 shootings at Kent State, which shook the country to the roots and had a profound impact on the anti-war movement.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, Journalism, Crime, The United States Of America

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

James Albert Michener is best known for his sweeping multi-generation historical fiction sagas, usually focusing on and titled after a particular geographical region. His first novel, Tales of the South Pacific , which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Toward the end of his life, he created the Journey Prize, awarded annually for the year's best short story published by an emerging Canadian writer; founded an MFA program now, named the Michener Center for Writers, at the University of Texas at Austin; and made substantial contributions to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, best known for its permanent collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings and a room containing Michener's own typewriter, books, and various memorabilia.

Michener's entry in Who's Who in America says he was born on Feb. 3, 1907. But he said in his 1992 memoirs that the circumstances of his birth remained cloudy and he did not know just when he was born or who his parents were.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mother had me read the beginning of Michener's Hawaii when I was a kid, but I never finished the thing, just appreciated the set-up and later saw the movie version. So far as I can recall, that's all the Michener I'd ever read until I came upon this book about the National Guard murders of students at Kent State University on 5/4/70. This, and the similar murders of students at Jackson State on 5/14, constituted part of the outcome of national protests against the United States of America's illegal invasion of Cambodia the month previous. My own school, Grinnell College, went on strike along with hundreds of others that spring.

Michener was no radical. It is a sign of the times that such a prominent figure should, within a year of the event, conduct a serious investigation of the killings, particularly seeing that they were popularly supported according to opinion polls at the time. His conclusions, detailed in this virtually day-by-day, minute-by-minute account, basically supported the views of critics of the Ohio Guard while not, of course, endorsing the activities of some of the hot-headed teens and near-teens who were demonstrating.

[Ian "Marvin" Graye]

May 4, June 4, Spot the Difference

Whenever you are reminded of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, please take a moment to remember the Kent State Shootings on May 4, 1970:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Sta...

http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/4may...





Don Drumm Sculpture - Kent State University - Kent, OH


If You Stand Behind a Horse, Don't Be Surprised If It Kicks You

All States, when threatened, behave like a horse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGfFF...


With Thanks to Our Friends at Hey Liberals...

Hey liberals, this is [America/China/Russia/the State], don't fuck with it.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hey-li...



An Extract from Lesley Wischmann's Review of "Thirteen Seconds: Confrontation at Kent State" on Amazon

"One warning: people interested in Kent State too often rely upon one of the few seemingly comprehensive books on the subject that is still available: James Michener's Kent State: What Happened and Why.

"But before relying on that book as definitive, you should be aware that, immediately after the killings, on the night of May 4 or 5, 1970, President Richard Nixon called his good friend, Hobart Lewis, editor of Reader's Digest.

"Within a few days, Lewis had enlisted Michener to write the "definitive" history of those events, Nixon, whose role in possibly instigating the shootings remains unknown, must have been pleased when he saw how Lewis carried out the directive.

"Within a few years, this fictionalized account by Michener, as published by Reader's Digest's publisher, gained credibility and the country began to accept Michener's proffered thesis that Kent State was all a sad confluence of events.

"A tragedy with blame to be shared by all. But those of us who have really investigated Kent State know that this is simply not true. Everyone was not equally responsible for the tragic outcome of May 4, 1970."

http://www.amazon.com.au/Thirteen-Sec...

[Robert Case · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed compilation of interviews and pictures, storytelling and analysis of the massacre at Kent State University in 1970. I've grateful that novelist James Michener devoted the time and energy to writing this book of history, within a year of the actual event. I read a hardback copy from the public library. So, I'm also grateful that author Michener limited his subject matter to just the long weekend. He left the legal wrangling and political intrigue of the aftermath for younger historians in later years. It was a wise choice. 550 pages was enough.

[Lise Blankenship · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book at least 40 years ago. As a teenager in the sixties I was shaped by events of the world. This book helped me to understand there is always more to a story. I loved it.

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Date read is very approximate - picked this up in college sometime after doing a project focusing on Abbie Hoffman. Found it fascinating at the time. In 2023, read Backderf's version of the story, which calls out some of the narrative agenda in this book.

[Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

While perusing the list of books James Michener has written in search of a good book to read, I saw that he had written this book in the immediate aftermath of the Kent State tragedy back in 1970. I was a freshman at FSU when Kent State happened, and I was still figuring out who I was as much as what I thought about world events. Although I vividly remember the shockwaves from Kent State, I realized that I don't know much about the details, so here was my chance.

First off, those people back in 1970 sure talked funny. Michener and his team of researchers talked to a lot of students and professors, and they frequently quote the vernacular of those days. But it is somewhat amusing to read Michener's 1950's style physical descriptions of coeds as "very attractive," often as if that is the most important character trait to verifying the authenticity of their contributions. It is also striking how big a deal he makes out of the female students yelling obscenities at the national guard, as if before this time, cussing was a privilege only given to males.

But once you get passed such amusements, this is a very important story about a time in our nation's history when many reacted to the shootings with the sentiment "I wish they had killed more of the students." In that generation of change, students were often misunderstood by their parents. Michener documents how the students were characterized as long-haired, dirty, and barefoot, and they should be shot for not conforming to society.

I remember going home after my freshman year, and realizing that when people saw me and said "Byron, it is so good to see you. I'm glad you haven't gone bad like...." that what they really meant was they were glad that I was still getting haircuts. So, during my sophomore year, I let my hair grow long to make a point, and it was fascinating to see how responses to me changed.

Anyway, back to the book... one more point and I am done - the late 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous years, and one of the things that exacerbated the issues that erupted at Kent State was the language of President Nixon and Vice President Agnew, as they said things intended to create hatred and anger towards specific groups of people. It is not unlike how our current president talks about people.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The afternoon of May 4,1970 I sat in Dr. Rice's history class at the Mansfield branch of Ohio State. He came into class and announced four students had been killed at Kent State. A fellow student, Micheal Goldstien stood up and said, "Who thought the revolution would start at Kent State." Kent State was only seventy miles from Mansfield. That weekend I traveled with four other students to Washington to protest the killing and Nixon's invasion of Cambodia. The reaction to the invasion started protests at Kent State a few days before the killings.

I knew of Michener's book when it first came out in the early 70's, but knowing Michener, I figured it would be a conservative white wash of the event. Instead, reading it all these years later, I found it balanced. In fact, I think Michener went to great lengths to be fair. He starts with the Kent State student's reaction to Nixon's announcement to invade Cambodia on Thursday night, and follows the events over the weekend into Monday. He also traces the movements that weekend of Jeff Miller, Allison Krause, Bill Schroeder and Sandy Scheuer, the four students who were killed, and as well as Doug Wrentmore, who was wounded but survived. He condemns both the actions of the students and the decisions of Ohio'S governor James Rhodes.

Michener's depiction of the counter culture back then is sometimes quaint and misinformed, but sympathetic. For me, it brought back many feelings of anger and frustration. What surprised me, that I had forgotten, the public reaction to the event. Many people thought all the students should have been shot. One mother whose daughter participated in the demonstrations, told her daughter, she should have been shot too.

It also interesting to read Michener's predictions of what the future of the nation and higher education. Almost none of it came to pass.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this book first came out, it has informed my understanding of what happened in the days leading up to that beautiful spring day on that normally quiet college campus, soon to become my own campus. Yeah, I knew people who were there. My first college roommate. My boyfriend's roommate. My cousin. Nothing any of them told me about those days contradicted Michener's book in any major way. It was heartbreaking then, and it's heartbreaking now, and the immediacy of Michener's book captures that in spades. My cousin remembers seeing the author sitting in local bars that summer and fall interviewing student eyewitnesses.

[Big Hard Books & Classics · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just reviewed this in BookTube. I am a Kent State grad (1986( and have paid attention to Kent State anniversaries, for decades. I think it relates to events if today! "Remember Kent State!"

[Lance Lumley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I attended Kent State University from 1992-2002, and when I saw this book at a library book sale, I was interested in reading this, especially since it was by James A. Michener, an author I knew of but never read.
This book was very well written and detailed, without being filled with personal opinions of the writer. This book was originally released in 1971, and filled with great facts and reports, from newspaper and television reports, to students and faculty members, to officials in the city.
When attending Kent, whenever this event was ever brought up (which was very few) the impression taught to me was some anti Vietnam students were peacefully protesting and got shot from the National Guard. However, the book explains that rioting from other colleges throughout the state was happening, how some rioters were not even campus students, and some were even high school students.
The book talks about the early riots in downtown Kent before May 4, how letters were sent to campus officials demanding things like the ROTC Building to be shut down or it would be burned, to attacks planned on The President of the University's house, and even flyers being posted all over campus of threats and hate speech.
The great thing about this book is that it covers as much of the story as it can find, from rumors that may or may not have happened, to how the university changed curfews on the university, yet a different time was used in town. At the end of each chapter, the writer states some conclusions, which is objective by the facts they gathered-they cover how both sides of the issues were at fault for miscommunications to just causing trouble. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, this book is very well written, and covers the days leading up to, during, and after the events. Too bad this topic wasn't this thorough in my Kent History classes when I attended there. This was a great bargain buy at the book sale.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extensive book that goes into extreme detail of all of the events at Kent State University in Ohio in May 1970. It took me back to that era of the Vietnam War and life on college campuses at the time. I'm not sure I could've made it through the book if I would've been reading it in paper because it was so long but I listen to it on audible and in spite of a few lulls I found the book captivating for the most part. The book was published in 1971 and was the product of a crew of reporters who must've crammed an incredible number of interviews into a few months. The book is wide ranging covering a variety of topics beyond the killing of four students by the National Guard. I hadn't remembered the extremely negative reaction of the Kent community to the student riots after the fact. The comparison of the May riots in Kent involving 10,000 people that was related to the war and the invasion of Cambodia with a November riot in Columbus involving 30,000 people after an Ohio State football victory over University of Michigan was fascinating. The National Guard was not called in for the sports riot. The Kent riots were just before a state election and a candidate for governor Rhodes wanted to look tough.

[Dottie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a must read for an alum of KSU. I think Michener did his homework though I'm not sure I'm in agreement with the lines he drew from A to B to C. I think there is both more and less to the events than that.

[Sheik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book starts off sounding like the Party line, but when Mitchener digs deeper he discovers that Kent was like so many "black flag" operations....."they shoot students don't they?"

[Tal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting account of the Kent State shootings and Michener's perspective on our generation back then.

[Dawn Aschberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really amazing thrift store find in Florida. Went to Kent State and really liked how this book gave a lot of detail of what happened that day.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of his best books

[Bjm Index]

4

[Jess d'Artagnan · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can read my review of "Kent State" here: http://thewritereader.blogspot.com/20...

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written and published within a year of the *events* at Kent State. We just passed the 50th anniversary of that weekend. The book is, like the others by Michener I've read, immensely detailed and deeply researched. While reading it I was transported back to the college campus I was on in 1970. I am surprised at how raw it feels, 50 years later. I knew much of what I read, had forgotten some and learned some more. Somehow, I had forgotten the anger and bitter invective of many people toward the protesting students. It is disturbing to read how many people thought the students who died deserved it and that all the others should have been shot as well. There are so many ideas and problems from that time that have not changed or have changed only in minor ways. Reading this in 2020 when there seems to be much turmoil and unrest is disturbing and enlightening.

[Skyring · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm more used to Michener's epic works of fiction, carefully researched, evocative, telling the story.

Here he does the same for a pivotal event in modern American history. Setting down the facts through the stories of those who participated, including the comments afterwards.

What a fascinating read! What a great divide in lifestyles! The old and new worlds collide in Ohio, and afterwards, decent American citizens say that the National Guard should have shot the lot of them.

As it turned out, some of those dead and wounded were just passing through the area between classes. They had every right to be there, they were threatening nobody, they may not have had any interest at all in the activity around them.

And the soldiers were constricted in vision by gasmasks, taunted, forced to retreat, and somehow shocked or startled into shooting.

If blame needs to be laid, blame the activists bent on revolution, a tiny few who stirred others into violent action. The conditions of campus, county and country did the rest.

Beyond the dry facts of the shootings, we see Michener hard at work. He builds upon the work of a research team, and he weaves the many threads of the story together. This is compelling reading where official reports are dry and unhelpful.

The few photographs are well-chosen, and the map at the end is essential.

[Guera25 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the opinions espoused herein might have been revolutionary--perhaps even incendiary at the time, but forty-four years on, they read as the staid, hand-wringing moralizing of a fusty old man looking with alarm on the seismic cultural shifts that wracked the U.S. in the 1970s.

Laments about the horrors of cursing coeds, outlandish clothing, and premarital sex aside, the book strives to present a balanced view of what happened that spring afternoon, and though it does not always succeed, it largely avoids a descent into hysterical, inflammatory rhetoric. The students are not sinless angels, but neither are they portrayed as crazed zealots determined to tear down the social order. Likewise, the National Guardsmen are neither noble soldiers fending off a howling, bloodthirsty horde nor gibbering, trigger-happy demons bent on eradicating filthy hippies.

Michener can't resist pontificating nigh ad infinitum, and he even favors the reader with his own plan for saving the country from a descent into moral decay, but the compelling nature of his subject is sufficient to overcome this lapse into the obnoxious.

[Teri Pre · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, James Michener takes on the task of investigating the Kent State shooting. He does a fairly good job with the facts but what fascinated me was the glimpse back to the way things were in the late 60s and early 70.

Michener is supremely paternalistic in his rendition of the events. A couple of times he made me smile. Other times, I rolled my eyes. He calls women in their 20s "girls". He had a habit of saying things like "Unexpectedly attractive" when describing various women in the book. When describing a panel (one of many) that was convened after the shooting, he was careful to stress that "there were even three blacks on the panel." Not a word about a woman so I assume there were none. These were the eye-rollers.

The funny/cute thing was when he was describing "giving someone the bird". He said something like "The hand is held with the palm facing you...." I got a chuckle out of it.

He also had a recipe for how parents and students should treat each other. Basically try to see the other side of the question.

It was a thought-provoking walk down memory lane.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived in Ohio at the time, and having known people who were there on the day of the shootings, I had a real interest in the events and how it all played out. But Michener does not make it easy. I guess he was out of his element here - reporting as a journalist rather than writing one of his novels - but I felt it was stilted, full of descriptive prose when he needed to cut to the chase and he just didn't have the interviewing skills needed for a book of this type.
I did learn a lot but in the hands of a real investigative reporter this could have been a real page turner rather than the dry lifeless recounting of the events we have here. I always felt the best parts of his novels were the descriptions and the interior monologues, rather than the action, the dialogue and the characters.
This book was recommended to me by someone else and I did like his thoroughness but I was disappointed
in the end by his style I guess. Or lack of it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book several times. I was enamored with this tragic event in my adolescence. I am rather certain that the interest stemmed directly from Neil Young's song. I wrote a history paper for Miss Tong based on this event using this as my main support. I recall struggling writing this. Miss Tong did loan me 4 Way Street where I fell in love with Don't Let It Bring You Down. The introduction to that song on that album is classic!

This remains the only Michener book I have ever read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was 10 years old when the National Guard killed four young people at an anti-war demonstration on a college campus. It galvanized the nation. The generation gap was never a mythological thing, it was real. And the gap was never more pronounced or more visible than it was after these killings. Reading this will bring back some chilling memories for those old enough to remember it. Michener is at his finest as both a historian and a journalist in telling the tale of this watershed event.

[KennyO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Utterly off the track of Michener's usual writing, this work is the clearest perusal of the nadir of a politically charged time. Most investigative reports on the Kent State shootings were written as if the writers had their own axes to grind. Michener set out to learn what had happened and how, and then he published it for us to learn as well. The 1968 Democratic National Convention was the death knell for the Sixties, the Kent State shootings drove a stake through its heart.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A haunting account of the Kent State tragedy researched thoroughly and recounted through the discerning eye of James Michener. While we would like to forget about this shameful state of our country in 1970, it is a good reminder and a thoughtful commentary on what happens when the forces of extremism from both sides takes hold of otherwise good people.

[Gayle Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was almost ten years old. This was my wake up to what was going on in the world. So when I realized that it happened forty-six anniversary of the shooting. I wanted to know what the hell really happened.

This book filled a lot of things I didn't know. It also pissed me after the four who died, that were faulted for so much and none was true.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming. Living in Ohio then and remember it like it was yesterday. Read the book ages ago, but I think it bears reading in the current political climate. This could so easily happen again.

[Wendy Heintzelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hard book to read at the time since it was about the truth. Michener's story's were about history but not so real as Kent State and so present day when it came out. But it had to be written and he did it well.