Customer Reviews

13 Seconds: A Look Back at the Kent State Shootings

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book adds virtually nothing to the body of literature already out there on the Kent State Massacre. Though the criticism seemed petty when I first heard it, the fact that Caputo calls Portage County "Porter County" in the context of the book is really lame. It smacks of a lack of familiarity with the area (or a 10 second Google search), and a rush to publish this book in time to capitalize on the 35th anniversary of May 4th in 2005 (the book came out just before then).

The reason why I give this book 3 stars instead of 1 is its appendix. There are compiled, together in one convenient place, the original text of a number of relevant documents like the report of Nixon's Presidential Commision on Campus Unrest (1970), which I found surprisingly better than expected. But that was merely a pleasant surprise after a pretty disappointing book, and those documents could easily be obtained elsewhere for less money. The book is not worth buying for them; maybe borrowing from your public library.

An earlier post was probably correct, it appears that Philip Caputo's "13 Seconds-A Look Back at the Kent State Shootings" was written mostly to provide a book to accompany DVD Documentary "Kent State: The Day The War Came Home". The DVD is included inside the book and provides a good overview of what happened on May 4, 1970.

While Caputo's book could use some minor fact checking I don't see any need to be suspicious of any major facts. There are not major distortions or significant errors, just confused details from someone who obviously did little (if any )primary research and rushed the book to print.

About half the book is a detailed chronology of the events and the text from "The Report of The President's Commission on Campus Unrest" (Sept-1970).

Which leaves only 122 pages of Caputo's writing and this is not exactly in small print. Yet besides the DVD I recommend this book without reservation. Its contribution is not in the retelling of what has been told before but in Caputo's focus on both a historical context and his use of this perspective to help the reader make strides toward healing 35 years later.

Caputo begins with a simple description: "Suddenly, a line of guardsmen wheeled, and making no distinction among active demonstrators, bystanders, and students merely walking to class, knelt and fired, killing four, wounding nine". He then cites the Boston Massacre of 1770; pointing out the similarity between the atmosphere in the early 1770's and the late 1960's-early 1970's, and the military occupation of Boston and of the Kent State campus. Then he contrasts the two events, particularly the much closer proximity of the colonists to the British troops and the much more satisfactory disciplining of the troops involved in that incident.

Caputo is pretty objective in handing out blame for Kent State but ultimately finds it cannot be shared equally. He cites "Henry V": "The king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make....".

The healing comes from an assessment of the enduring historical impact as Caputo dismisses most of what is usually cited, pointing instead to lessons from Kent State applicable now that we are fighting another morally dubious war. That (even a democracy) when not led by wise and temperate leaders, and when those leaders are given reason to perceive that they are executing the popular will, will resort to virtually any means to silence those who disagree too vigorously with its policies. That in 1970 the Ohio governor was acting as an agent of the people's will; that a true democracy must tolerate opposing points of view or it is just a dictatorship of the majority. Finally, that a citizen who believes his or her government to be in the wrong has the right to protest through peaceful civil disobedience, when other means of redress have been exhausted.

Perhaps even more appropriate is the following from another source: "Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That's what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It's real though, the fury, even when it isn't. It can change you, turn you, mold you and shape you into something you're not. The only upside of anger then, is the person you become, hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they're not afraid of its journey. Someone that knows that the truth is, at best, a partially told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits and in its wake leaves a new chance of acceptance and the promise of calm".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

s someone who has researched the Kent State shootings for thirty some years, I bought this to keep current with the literature on the topic. Having spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in archives and with the FBI files, I don't expect many new Kent State insights from popular literature. But, with almost all the books I really like on Kent State out of print, I was hoping for a book I could recommend to others. Being a great fan of "Rumor of War," I expected Caputo to use his excellent story-telling skills to bring people closer to the horrors of that day.

Unfortunately, on page 15, I discovered what would become a pattern with this book: sloppy research and/or a careless disregard for basic facts. On page 15, Caputo is discussing the Weatherman when he mentions "Bill Flanagan." Bill Flanagan? Caputo must mean the Weatherman Brian Flanagan, not Bill Flanagan. Maybe just one little error.

But on p. 32, Caputo tells us that the "Porter County coroner had opened an inquiry into the four deaths." Porter County? Where's Porter County? What Caputo meant was PORTAGE County.

On p. 68, Caputo tells us that Jeff Miller transferred to Kent State in January 1970 from the University of Michigan. But he didn't. Jeff transferred from Michigan State University. And don't tell any MSU grad that it's the same as U of M. (Or vice versa.)

Because of silly errors like the above, it's impossible to trust the information that Caputo presents. On p. 48, he says that "a couple of students suffered minor bayonet wounds" on Saturday night. If this is true, it is big news. But Caputo has given me no reason to believe it's true. Instead, I believe he's referencing the students who were bayoneted on Sunday, not Saturday, night. And that is not news at all.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed in this book. It appears to have been done quickly and haphazardly, solely to provide a book to accompany the "Kent State: The Day The War Came Home" DVD. This excellent DVD will give anyone interested in the shootings a good overview and understanding of what happened on May 4, 1970. I give the book two stars because the price of the book and DVD, combined, is more than reasonable for the DVD alone. But, if you read the book, be suspicious of facts contained therein. Until you have verified them with other sources, I would discourage you from citing them as truth.

Lastly, while I have not yet studied the chronology (which takes up about half the book), I expect it to be helpful in pinpointing dates of certain events. But my needs regarding Kent State materials differ dramatically from what most individuals will want. Anyone seriously interested in Kent State would have benefited from an index but, alas, Caputo has not provided one.

It has been close to 37 years since the May 4, 1970 shootings at Kent State University shocked the nation. Now that passions have cooled and the participants have the benefit of maturity and hindsight, the time is ripe to look at the tragedy with fresh eyes and new insights. Philip Caputo's book provides the opportunity to rethink the making of the tragedy.

The book is part personal memoir, part reflection and part history. Caputo provides a high-level description -- not a comprehensive analysis, as some would hope -- of the activities of the students, National Guardsmen, campus officials and government leaders during the days of protest and violence that led to the shootings. He contrasts the shootings to the 1770 "Boston Massacre," drawing a few parallels, but significant differences. He ends the book with 75 pages (!) of appendices, including a lengthy timeline of the shooting and its litigious aftermath, and excerpts from the findings of various commissions that looked into the shootings and at campus unrest in general. A companion DVD produced by The Learning Channel provides graphic evidence of the string of events that culminated in the deaths of 4 students and the wounding of 9 others.

"13 Seconds" is not intended to be a detailed analysis of who shot whom and who died when. There isn't even a map of the scene, which would have been helpful. The book does provide a challenge to those who wish to view the event in polarized terms -- that the Guardsmen were illegitimate military occupiers (or pitiable victims of a vengeful mob); that the students were peaceful protestors (or profanity-spewing, stone-wielding barbarians). Caputo lays blame all around for the missteps, miscommunications, heated rhetoric and lack of discipline that caused the conflict to escalate into tragedy. Though rightly placing the majority of the blame on those who fired weapons against distant students, Caputo sees other threads contributing to the tapestry of death. These include paranoid reactions by students and city officials as well as comments by Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman's counsel that kids kill their parents, and by Gov. Ronald Reagan inviting of a "bloodbath" to bring campus conflicts to resolution.

Caputo's conclusion - that peaceful ways need to be found to express unpopular thoughts and to control their violent excesses - is not exactly new. But sadly, his conclusion that the shootings accomplished relatively little probably is true, much to the chagrin of those who wish to elevate May 4, 1970 to the level of a sanctioned government massacre of guilless innocents.

The DVD that accompanies the book is a very valuable, even-handed, if sketchy, portrayal of the events of that awful weekend. It's valuable to see hear former student victims speaking emotionally about the shooting. It's instructive to hear from the former Guardsmen attempt to describe their actions on Blanket Hill. It's perplexing and heartbreaking to hear former Sergeant Larry Schaefer (the only Guardsman who admits to shooting a student) both regret his actions and wonder why he did it. Still, it's amazing (and a bit maddening) that after all these years, he still does not know why he acted as he did.

The value of "13 Seconds" is less in its retelling of the details of the shootings at Kent State, than for the honest musings of a respected journalist eager to parse out specific details from their larger social context. After years of unabated rhetoric, paranoia and conspiracy theories (the unfortunate hallmarks of the 1960s) it is a sort of progress to see the shootings depicted as an unfortunate and unplanned spasm of violence from a band of frightened, ill-disciplined, ill-trained and ill-led soldiers against fundamentally unarmed students.

I was not long out of the Army when the Kent State Shootings took place. I was still thinking as a GI.

Here you have a bunch of troops, generally speaking not from the higher rankings of society. They are wearing uniforms (which gives you a strange feeling anyway). They are carrying loaded rifles.

There you have a bunch of students, generally speaking they are from the higher rankings of society. The students are taunting the troops, throwing rocks at them, screaming four letter words at them.

As Mr. Caputo says, "to respond to stones and bad language with a random volley of .30-caliber bullets was not imaginable in America." But that's what happened, Kent State made it imaginable.

There are several real lessons to be learned by Kent State. One is that you shouldn't go throwing stones and curse words at people who don't like you very well anyway and who have loaded rifles. Another is that if you're in charge you don't put soldiers trained how to act in combat in such a role. Finally you start doing some research in conflict resolution, like the new center at Kent State.

This book is a complete story of the incident. It also incorporates some very good analysis of the aftermath. In 2003 the demonstrations against the war in Iraq happened with no bloodshed. Highly recommended.

The book sucks as it is highly inaccurate. But, the DVD is good. Buy it used for the DVD and ditch the book. If you're interested in May 4, 1970 I'd recommend "The Truth About Kent State" by Peter Davies or "The Kent State Cover-Up" by Joseph Kelner & James Munves.

I enjoyed this book by Mr.Caputo as i did his earlier work Rumor of War.This was the first event i remember being interested in as a 10 year old.The front picture of Life magazine i can still recall 38 years later.I dont think the conspiracy folks will enjoy this book but if you want to know just what happened and the changes it did to those involved and how our country now tries to handle these incidents.Also with the book comes a dvd that covers that day and has interviews with its participants.I was suprised to hear remorse from the National Guardsmen but absolutely none from the protesters.Even with the torching of the ROTC building and the damage caused to the small business owners who had nothing to do with Mr.Nixons policies in Vietnam.Both the book and dvd are a good starter source to someone who may be curious to what happened at Kent State such as myself.Highly reccomended.

I confess I bought this book and WASTED MY MONEY. The books contains major factual errors. The author has minimal text - most of the book is simply a rehash and list of everything we already knew.

I have read many books on the Kent State Murders and this is the only one which claims "the soliders knelt down on the practice field, fired, and killed students." This guy may have got this baloney past his editors at a newspaper but - it appears he was not there and did not perform the required research.

He also chose a title for his book that was close to being borrowed from a book titled: "Thirteen seconds: Confrontation at Kent State" by Joe Eszterhas and was published in 1970.

Seach for the book by Joe Eszterha - it is worth the money.
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Search finds:

Thirteen seconds;: Confrontation at Kent State (Unknown Binding)
by Joe Eszterhas

Availability: Available from these sellers.


15 used & new available from $9.98

Paranoia and fear from both students and soldiers (some of the soldiers were actually students themselves) brought 'the war home' on May 4 1970.

A gathering to protest Nixon's Cambodia invasion quickly and unexpectedly turned into bloodshed. Four students were gunned down by National Guard soldiers sent in by Governor James Rhodes to `keep order' on the campus because higher education was supposedly being destroyed in Ohio.

The ironic thing was that Kent State University itself had not been a hot bed for radicalism or the economic elite. Nestled in middle-America, many of it's students were commuters who espoused 'moderate' political views and had a matching income.

The guard had been brought in purely on speculation from Mayor Leroy Satrom that revolutionaries were going to 'destroy campus' without any concrete and direct evidence for taking such a drastic measure.

If a venue could have been selected for one of the most dramatic incidents in American history, Kent State University would not have been it.

On a more serious note, the book does examine the wisdom (or lack of) having already-edgy soldiers police a student gathering with loaded weapons. It is important that readers understand that a combat mentality cannot and does not translate seamlessly into the civilian world.

On top of the suspicious burning of the ROTC building, the soldiers were being instructed to view opposition as dangerous---itself dangerous in a democracy and to academic freedom. A May 3rd press conference by the Governor illustrated there was no room for dissent of any kind.

Rhodes's comparison of ALL protestors (including the non-violent ones who were respectful of the soldiers but still hated the war) to communists and Nazi brown shirts amplified this paranoid climate.

The soldiers consequently were so scared that they opened fire on students up to 265 feet away--hardly an immediate physical threat.

I'd like to think that people all across the country learned critical lessons from Kent State. Security at today's campus events is provided by people with civilian crowd control training and students clarify it is the policy and not the soldiers enforcing it (regardless of personal sentiments) which they protest.

Yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of the Kent State murders that shocked the nation. So I went to the university library and pulled out magazine books from that time (TIME, NEWSWEEK, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, LIFE). I had known the event but in those magazine articles they wrote facts that I didn't know like of the four students that were killed, not one was older than 21 and three of the students weren't in the National Guard protest AT ALL; they were just doing business as usual (either going to class or heading for lunch) when they were struck down. When I read that, I was so moved that I almost had tears coming out of my eyes.
My father told me that he still remembers it happening and it was one of the lowest days of his life. He also said that Kent State was the reason why he never went to college. I have to agree that this event offically marked the end of the 60's; fittingly it ended where it started: In a sea of blood (the Kennedy assassination in Dallas basically started it). In recent years there have been suspicions thrown by books written about the shooting saying that there was a conspiracy involving President Nixon and FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in which they ordered the governor of Ohio to committ the crime.
There is one fact that is the most sad of all: No one went to jail (the guardsmen were tried but were never convicted or courtmarshalled). The government just let whoever did it get away scot free (a la JFK assassination and World Trade Center bombing and those events yielded zero people in jail) while at the same time four students were buried in their graves screaming for justice that would never come.
As for the book itself I will try to buy it (the bonus DVD is a great idea). I think this book and event is a perfect example of why this government has gotten old and it's time to change things around. And besides if this government doesn't stop what they're doing in the Persan Gulf; somewhere in this country there's going to be another campus shooting like what happened in Kent State.