More than a half century has passed since Ohio National Guard members opened fire on college students during a war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and injuring nine others.
The description of the nation, then split over the Vietnam War, leading up to the 1970 tragedy echo today’s politics and divisions in many ways. In Kent State: An American Tragedy, historian Brian VanDeMark recounts a country that had split into two warring camps that would not and could not understand each other.