The Story Behind the Book
THE KENT STATE SHOOTINGS: WILLIAM A. GORDON'S BOOK
FOUR DEAD IN OHIO: WAS THERE A CONSPIRACY AT KENT STATE?
FOUR DEAD IN OHIO: WAS THERE A CONSPIRACY AT KENT STATE?
How William A. Gordon turned a straightforward investigative account about the Kent State murders into a groundbreaking satire. One professor complained that it read too well.
* William A. Gordon was born during the 1950 blizzard that crippled Akron, Ohio. Ohio National Guardsmen had to be summoned to take his mother to the hospital.
* Gordon began writing about the Kent State shootings in October 1970, when he was a reporter for his college newspaper, UCLA’s The Daily Bruin. He has now covered the Kent State tragedy longer than anyone else.
* 17 years elapsed between the time he decided to write the book until it was published by Prometheus Books in 1990. By the time Prometheus allowed the book to go out of print in 1993, Gordon had already established his own publishing business. He bought all of Prometheus’ remaining copies, sold those, and then released both the paperback and updated e-book editions under his own imprint, North Ridge Books.
* Kent State’s resident May 4 expert, Jerry M. Lewis, read an earlier version of the manuscript and was so threatened by it that he actually complained the book read too well. ("I could not put it down,” followed by "I like dry, analytical stuff.")
* Once the book was published, it was critically praised, but only after the narrow three-month window that bookstores typically carry new books. By the time another author, Howard Means, seconded virtually all of his major conclusions 26 years later (without acknowledging Gordon once), Four Dead in Ohio was almost completely forgotten (with more than a little help from the university itself).
* Gordon was repeatedly prevented from speaking at Kent State. He believes the reason why is because he ridiculed the competence (or lack of competence) of KSU’s May 4 scholars and exposed Lewis’s multiple acts of sabotage. Both he and his original publisher tried unsuccessfully to arrange talks on both the 20th and 25th anniversaries, when the hardcover and paperback editions came out. Gordon encountered strong resistance, and Prometheus Books’ publicist was even told by the chairman of the commemoration committee (again, the conflict-of-interest-riddled Lewis) that “Gordon is not welcome at Kent State.”
* The May 4 Task Force, the student propaganda arm of the radical wounded survivors, also refused to let him speak at their programs (“I guess I’m too respectable and middle-class.”)
* While other May 4 authors were heavily criticized for making too many mistakes (particularly James A. Michener), in the three decades since Four Dead was originally published, no journalist, scholar, or groupie has been able to identify any specific identifiable error in the book. The one error Gordon is aware of was the misspelling of the name of an eyewitness, which actually started with an "F" instead of an "S." The error occurred because he repeated the spelling error exactly as it originally appeared in eyewitness notes prepared by an ACLU paralegal. The error was corrected in the paperback edition of the book. (That is not to say he was perfect or that the evidence was clear-cut; just that he was treated the facts more conscientiously than any other author of a May 4 book.)
* Four Dead in Ohio itself started out as a straightforward investigative account, but ended up crossing genres and became satirical—at least in part. There is no modern-day precedent for this, and the book, which highlights the many absurdities of the tragedy, seemingly supports Karl Marx’s observation that "historical events are told twice, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce."
* The targets of Gordon’s satire were not the killings, which were practically the only aspect of the Kent State killings he considered sacrosanct. The book does, however, take a satirical look at practically everything else, including:
* Gordon began writing about the Kent State shootings in October 1970, when he was a reporter for his college newspaper, UCLA’s The Daily Bruin. He has now covered the Kent State tragedy longer than anyone else.
* 17 years elapsed between the time he decided to write the book until it was published by Prometheus Books in 1990. By the time Prometheus allowed the book to go out of print in 1993, Gordon had already established his own publishing business. He bought all of Prometheus’ remaining copies, sold those, and then released both the paperback and updated e-book editions under his own imprint, North Ridge Books.
* Kent State’s resident May 4 expert, Jerry M. Lewis, read an earlier version of the manuscript and was so threatened by it that he actually complained the book read too well. ("I could not put it down,” followed by "I like dry, analytical stuff.")
* Once the book was published, it was critically praised, but only after the narrow three-month window that bookstores typically carry new books. By the time another author, Howard Means, seconded virtually all of his major conclusions 26 years later (without acknowledging Gordon once), Four Dead in Ohio was almost completely forgotten (with more than a little help from the university itself).
* Gordon was repeatedly prevented from speaking at Kent State. He believes the reason why is because he ridiculed the competence (or lack of competence) of KSU’s May 4 scholars and exposed Lewis’s multiple acts of sabotage. Both he and his original publisher tried unsuccessfully to arrange talks on both the 20th and 25th anniversaries, when the hardcover and paperback editions came out. Gordon encountered strong resistance, and Prometheus Books’ publicist was even told by the chairman of the commemoration committee (again, the conflict-of-interest-riddled Lewis) that “Gordon is not welcome at Kent State.”
* The May 4 Task Force, the student propaganda arm of the radical wounded survivors, also refused to let him speak at their programs (“I guess I’m too respectable and middle-class.”)
* While other May 4 authors were heavily criticized for making too many mistakes (particularly James A. Michener), in the three decades since Four Dead was originally published, no journalist, scholar, or groupie has been able to identify any specific identifiable error in the book. The one error Gordon is aware of was the misspelling of the name of an eyewitness, which actually started with an "F" instead of an "S." The error occurred because he repeated the spelling error exactly as it originally appeared in eyewitness notes prepared by an ACLU paralegal. The error was corrected in the paperback edition of the book. (That is not to say he was perfect or that the evidence was clear-cut; just that he was treated the facts more conscientiously than any other author of a May 4 book.)
* Four Dead in Ohio itself started out as a straightforward investigative account, but ended up crossing genres and became satirical—at least in part. There is no modern-day precedent for this, and the book, which highlights the many absurdities of the tragedy, seemingly supports Karl Marx’s observation that "historical events are told twice, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce."
* The targets of Gordon’s satire were not the killings, which were practically the only aspect of the Kent State killings he considered sacrosanct. The book does, however, take a satirical look at practically everything else, including:
- Some of the more ridiculous testimony sworn under oath.
- The literature on the subject. Gordon’s favorite book was "I Was There" by the two Guardsmen who were not.
- Pompous self-proclaimed experts, like "the professor with the suspicious footnotes."
- Court rulings that were inconsistent with vital evidence.
- The absurd, unreasonable demands of the student protestors, and the dishonesty of one wounded survivor, who was the “world’s oldest living student radical.”
- Commercial publishers' demands for "earthshattering revelations," which are really just sensational unprovable accusations that sell books.
- Ultimately himself for writing the book. May 4 may have been an historical event that occurred in his backyard, but Gordon eventually realized that his greatest obstacle was the subject matter itself. That is why the words "Kent State" do not appear in the main title itself.
* The real significance of May 4, 1970 was not, in Gordon’s view, that it helped end the war in Vietnam (although it obviously had some immeasurable effect), but that it turned into one of the greatest sustained miscarriages of justice in modern times. All kinds of crimes were committed at Kent State, yet no one—not a single student, Guardsman, or state official—was ever held responsible for any of the criminal acts.
As payback or “creative revenge” on those at Kent State who tried to silence him and stand in the way of his success, Gordon plans to use Amazon to donate free copies of his book to every Kent State student, professor, and alumnus who is interested in learning about May 4. “It is my fondest hope that I give some of these people heart attacks.”
“Satire is not the greatest type of literature . . . Still, it is one of the most original, challenging, and memorable forms . . .When a satirist uses uncompromisingly clear language to describe unpleasant facts and people, he intends to do more than make a statement. He intends to shock his readers.”
~ GILBERT HIGHET, The Anatomy of Satire (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962.)
~ GILBERT HIGHET, The Anatomy of Satire (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962.)
William A. Gordon (right) with bestselling authors
Leo “The Love Doctor’ Buscaglia and novelist Sue Grafton,
American Booksellers Association convention, 1992. Copyright © Julian Wasser.
Leo “The Love Doctor’ Buscaglia and novelist Sue Grafton,
American Booksellers Association convention, 1992. Copyright © Julian Wasser.
Kent State Shooting Expert
William A. Gordon Email: BGordonLA@aol.com Website: www.KentStateShootingsExpert.com |