Democratic Narrative, History & Memory edited by Carole Barbato and Laura L. Davis (review)

Thomas Grace, one of the nine students wounded at Kent State University in May 1970, declared, “America contains few instances more contested than the fight over the twentieth century public memory of the shootings at Kent State” (23). Existing literature reflects this controversy. Scholars have given voice to the competing views of Kent residents, students, faculty, administration, and guardsmen. Historians, the media, and the public have sought to understand why and how the shootings occurred and what meaning has been and/or should be given to the event. Carole Barbato and Laura Davis, faculty members at Kent State University, add significantly to the historiography of the Kent State shootings with this collection of ten essays. Inspired by the university’s Tenth Annual Symposium on Democracy, which honors the four students who were killed, Democratic Narrative embraces the ubiquitous theme of memory and how it can shape the future.

The book is organized thematically into three sections: “From History to Humanity,” “Corporate Media Culture and Public Memory,” and “Memory, History, and Justice.” The editors designed an interdisciplinary manuscript exploring how a society can come to terms with a traumatic event and “move toward justice” (viii). The essays in Part One offer fresh perspective on the Kent State shootings: an essay by Jay Winter explores the various forms and impacts of silence and applies it to the shootings, while another piece by Christopher Powell probes how they influenced the Canadian antiwar movement. Part Two examines the role of various media outlets in the shaping of society’s view of the event. Daniel Miller and Suzanne Clark draw attention to three documentaries: Night & Fog, Hearts & Minds, and Taxi to the Dark Side. These films portrayed the brutality of war (World War II, the Vietnam War, and the War in Afghanistan) and its dehumanizing effect. Janet Leach and Mitch McKenney mentioned how anniversary coverage of the tragedy in the Akron Beacon Journal has influenced memory and understanding. Devan Bissonette reexamines the Life magazine portrayal of the post–World War II America as “The American Century,” questioning this characterization in light of the unfulfilled democratic promise of the civil rights movement and the Cold War conflict in Vietnam. Essays in Part Three consider social remembering and the ways to reveal a deeper, more truthful understanding of traumatic episodes with the hope of promoting social justice. This section analyzes the disputed memory of the Central High Crisis in Little Rock and the 1979 Greensboro Massacre of members of the Communist Workers Party by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the subsequent formation of a truth and reconciliation commission in 2005. The section concludes with an essay by Jerry Lewis, professor emeritus of sociology at Kent State University and an eyewitness to the shootings. He explores the social remembrance of the Kent State shootings, which includes an annual candlelight march and vigil (which he instituted), an annual May 4 commemoration, as well as the controversy surrounding and the importance of the May 4 Memorial.

This groundbreaking scholarship calls upon society to understand how thirteen seconds, sixty-seven bullets, four dead, and nine wounded, as well as other watershed events, became imprinted on the nation’s psyche. Works such as this not only preserve memory, but challenge others to never forget. Barbato and Davis sought to preserve the past in order to work for the future; they succeeded in this formidable task. The collection of essays is complemented by an appendix that provides a thorough chronology of the events, including acknowledgment of the verification of an order to the Ohio National Guardsmen to fire. Authors utilized a myriad of primary sources, including oral interviews, newspapers, magazines, and government documents. As inscribed on the May 4 Memorial, this work challenges scholars, students, and the general public to “Inquire, Learn, and Reflect.”