Kent State

[Backderfs] expertly crafted chronicle of this defining moment in U.S. history serves as a deeply moving elegy for the victims. Readers may also draw from it sobering parallels to the deep divisions of contemporary times, again dangerously rife with media noise and misinformation muddying the waters. * Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review * An incendiary corrective to the myths and misconceptions surrounding these events and a memorial to the lives lost or forever altered that should be required reading for all Americans. * Library Journal - STARRED review * ? An excellent graphic retelling of a climactic moment in American history . . . Four dead in Ohio, indeedbut Backderfs vivid, evocative book does a splendid job of keeping their memories alive. * Kirkus reviews, STARRED Review * "Deeply researched and gut-wrenching * The New Yorker * One of the masterpieces of the medium...a work of devastating emotional impact. -- Rob Salkowitz * Forbes * The meticulous research is shown in more than two dozen pages of notes, confirming the sources from the Kent State University May 4 Collection about the shootings, but also Backderfs personal research and interviews. * The Akron Beacon Journal * Kent State is meticulously researchedBackderf is in total artistic control of his material. * Cleveland Review of Books * Derf Backderf brings historical context and a propulsive sense of narrative to this graphical history of the Kent State shootings. -- Etelka Lehoczky * book critic * The book not only illuminates history but also brings a form of closure to an unforgivable, inexcusable episode. * The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette * Kent State, unfolding in sober black and white, is as passionate as it is meticulous in its treatment of the May 4, 1970 killings of four unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard. * The New York Times Book Review * While removed from the events by a half-century, by the time the memoir spirals into the final spasm of chaos, the tragedy these boldly drawn panels feel fresh as if from yesterday's news. * PopMatters * Surely the graphic novel of the year, and an early entry onto the next Best of the Decade lists. * Forbes * A masterwork of graphic history, and the most sharply drawn commentary regarding the current moment in American history . . . meticulous down to the last detail . . . Kent State is a poignant and powerful memorial for the four students who were mercilessly and needlessly killed that day in Ohio. * The Beat * Derfs new graphic novel Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio has much to offer in our current climate . . . The result is a work of journalism and art that shows the reader what happened 50 years ago, and why its all-too-sadly relevant today. During a time where widespread Black Lives Matter protests have been sweeping the nation in the wake of the heinous killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others at the hands of law enforcement, the parallels are clear. * Cleveland Scene * I was rendered nearly breathless by the expert storytelling and breakneck pacing in this epic retelling of that pivotal event in American history. [Backderf] reveals the day-to-day moments of those oh-so-tenderly young people whose heartbreaking deaths would inflict a mournful impact of the American soul. Derf helps us imagine what it might be to know Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill, and, horrifically, what it may have been like to find them dead on the ground. * Comic Book Creator * When reading Kent State, its 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 yearsalbeit one with impeccable (or horrifying, depending on your perspective) timing . . . Kent State attempts to set the record straight, and the combined excellence of research and storytelling makes it easy to witness both the

Derf Backderf is the bestselling, award-winning author of My Friend Dahmer and Trashed. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio.