Told from different points of view--protesters, students, National Guardsmen, and "townies"--recounts the story of what happened at Kent State in May 1970, when four college students were killed by National Guardsmen, and a student protest was turned into a bloody battlefield.

May 4, 1970. Kent State University. As protestors roil the campus, National Guardsmen are called in. In the chaos of what happens next, shots are fired, and four students are killed. To this day, there is still argument of what happened and why. Told in multiple voices from a number of vantage points, protestor, Guardsman, townie, student, Deborah Wiles's narrative gives a moving, terrifying, galvanizing picture of what happened that weekend in Ohio. An event that, even fifty years later, still resonates deeply.

"IMAGINE: You are a student in America. You are protesting a war. Or maybe you are just walking to class. The National Guard is called onto your campus. Imagine you are a young guardsman. The protest grows stronger. So does the confusion, the chaos, the fear. The guardsmen open fire. Imagine this is your school. Imagine this is your town. Imagine this is your country. Imagine American troops firing on American students. Imagine the four students who died. No. Remember the four students who died. Because all of this happened. On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, all of this happened. Now we need to talk about it. Because if we don't talk about it, it will happen again."--