Ravecomicbook.comIt is a work of years with copious notes and excellent sourcing supporting the brief narrative of four worsening days along with examinations of the surrounding culture and causes that made the tragic incident possible ... Imagery, details, and other connections call out on almost every page, reminding readers that these events are not so distant and too different from our present reality ... When reading Kent State, it’s easy to imagine it being drafted as a response to our moment, but the quality of history and rich network of stories testify to this being a labor of many years—albeit one with impeccable (or horrifying, depending on your perspective) timing ... Backderf’s prose is drafted like that of a historian or biographer, sometimes expressing a perspective but always careful to frame it carefully with facts, quotes, and direct observation ... It’s the careful attention to the lives lost in the massacre that makes the final sequence of Kent State, a slow motion breakdown of the escalation on May 4 ... The pain detailed in this sequence is indescribable, and Backderf handles each human being who was killed or injured on that day with care ... Kent State attempts to set the record straight, and the combined excellence of research and storytelling makes it easy to witness both the tragic loss of life and senseless police actions that were never punished.
