The following are reader reviews that have been posted for The Blanket Hill Insurgency:
Reviews that have been post by any of my relatives, I have inserted their relationship. For reviews that have been post by other authors (who I know of), I have inserted a designation.
Currently 18 Reader Reviews average 4.7 Stars (13- 5 star and 5- 4 star)
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Gripping read
By John E. on July 2, 2018 on Amazon.com, 5 out of 5 star rating
Started reading and couldn’t put it down. Well written with a surprise or two throughout the book. I very much enjoyed Mr. Wilson’s writing and portrayal of the characters. He aptly demonstrates the turmoil that was occurring in our national conversation at the time preceding the incident at Kent State. Very interesting in that it reminded me of the events as they unfolded during this time and how closely they are mirrored by current events 50 years later and with the addition of our modern technological advances helping agitate and provoke confrontations for some deeper more sinister motives of some unknown subversive organizations that are tearing and dividing the nation apart. How it seems that history is repeating itself. Recommend reading the book.
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Blanket Hill Insurgency — a must read!
By Larry Diemond on December 18, 2016 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating
Terry’s word artistry keeps the reader engaged up to the final ending. A must read. I highly recommend this book.
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Terry Wilson did not write this book from the side of the patriots or the radicals but gave a good accounting of both sides
By Gail Gore on September 2, 2016 on Amazon.Com, 4 out of 5 star rating
I reached adulthood during this period and found what happened at Kent State unsettling. Terry Wilson did not write this book from the side of the patriots or the radicals but gave a good accounting of both sides. After reading the book, I think I have a better understanding of the conflict that was going on at Kent State and through the country at that time and still find it unsettling.
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Read it!
By Don on September 2, 2016 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating
Very enjoyable read. Highly recommended for folks living through this era.
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The real story about what happened at Kent State University!
By Marjorie Appleby, an author, on August 29, 2015 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating
I’m not a history enthusiast and lean toward fiction and fantasy as a way to escape so this was an interesting departure for me. It made me think of when President John F. Kennedy was shot. I can recall exactly what I was doing when the devastating news was broadcast over the school PA system. And I recall the news of the Kent State Massacre…on the radio as I drove home from my job. But I didn’t understand what really happened – until I read The Blanket Hill Insurgency.
As an emerging author and avid reader, I choose books based upon certain criteria. I want to be swept away to places I’ve never been to and entertained while learning something new. I didn’t know the real story of what happened that fateful day in May 1970.
Kent State University was located less than an hour from my house and it was devastating to think that something like that could happen so close to home! This single event brought the question most people had on their minds…should the United States even be in the Vietnam War.
Author Terry L. Wilson brings a new perspective to what took place at a juncture in our history, at a quiet campus, in the little town of Kent, Ohio. He starts by transporting the reader into the Vietnam jungle, and then slingshot us in and out of what transpires before and after the tragic event.
I now have a new understanding and appreciation of how this tragic event unfolded. As Mr. Wilson masterfully brings us along with him on this journey through life on a college campus, as well as a peek into Army life during the Vietnam War, he gives credence to this thought provoking and inspirational subject. His characters show extraordinary behavior along with a deep understanding of faith that encourages hope.
I recommend reading The Blanket Hill Insurgency in order to understand what really happened during this conflict. Mr. Wilson tackled this delicate subject nicely. Bravo!
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It’s the quiet subtly of this book that makes it potent,
By Susan Ward, an author on June 4, 2014 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating.
In a very restrained, well written style this book brought back to me many things I haven’t thought of in years. In a thorough portrait of a group of friends attending Kent State in the 60s, we see the prior American culture first mingle with the emerging culture, the culture clash, the confusion over the world, and how truly random one’s destiny can be. Unlike too many authors, Terry Wilson Does Not over play a single card. Instead of rushing in and painting epic, romanticized tales of the 60s, he tells his tale simply and with great honesty. It is a story worth telling, worth reminding us all of, and a story that would have been diminished if told in any other way. The end surprised me, because I wanted to remain hopeful for the characters. Perhaps that is the greater message. That in all that happened during this period, there was great loss and we need be reminded of that. A worthy read I would highly recommend. Particularly to young adults.
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This book will give readers a better understanding of the Vietnam era
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Great book that captures campus life and the moral conflict of the Viet Nam war during the mid to late ’60s
By L. R. Brown on April 7, 2014 on Amazon.Com. 5 out of 5 star rating.
In his book, The Blanket Hill Insurgency, the author Terry Wilson, weaves a story about post-World War II teens as they experience life around traditional family values and anticipate with excitement graduating from high school and stepping out on their own to challenge the world.
Wilson introduces the reader to Richard “Dick” Ames in the jungles of Viet Nam trying to stay alive. Through a series of flashbacks, the story of The Blanket Hill Insurgency unfolds.
Ames grew up poor, but he was hardworking and intelligent. His desire to pursue a degree in architect almost didn’t happen when his father’s business failed. Ames gave up his college money to help the family survive. A local businessman saw Ames’ potential and funded his college expenses to Kent State. During his first year at KS, Ames experienced the emotions of many freshman; romance, love, sex, and conflict. Drugs, class demands, new friends and old high school rivals paint a picture of college life in the mid to late ’60s. Wilson brings the Kent State campus to life through Ames and his friends.
In south east Asia, the Viet Nam war was ramping up and this brought great moral conflict to many students. The patriotic felt the war was justified to stop the spread of communism. More radically minded students felt the war was about large corporations reaping profits from the sales of goods and arms to the military. The radical’s believed the universities across the nation were a major contributor to this war’s effort via ROTC programs and the development of new weapons. They wanted these programs eliminated. Violence was one of the tools the radicals students employed to promote this agenda. The introduction of the military draft added fuel to their determination to eliminate the programs.
Ames and his friends were caught up in this sea of change while at Kent State and witnessed the dark side of the conflicts that developed. For those of us in college during this time, Wilson’s story will definitely resonate and bring back memories filed away over the past 45-50 years. For those born after the ’60s, it will give insight into the life that many of their parents experienced. I highly recommend this book.
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Now You Know the Rest of the Story
By James Hogan, an author on April 13, 2014 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating.
The author, Terry Wilson, gave me a perspective that will have lasting memories for me. I was like many who got their information from the media, which did not explain the human emotions and internal conflicts leading up to the events on Blanket Hill at Kent University. By bring to light the characters who experienced the unfolding drama in their personal lives, Terry shows how their conflicting interests shaped the outcome of the insurgency. My thanks to Terry for weaving these events into stark realism that impacted a generation of college students and their parents. or those who want a full perspective , I highly recommend this book as a must read. Hopefully, it will help guide others to prevent a similar event from happening again.
Jim Hogan
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Very well written
By Amazon Customer on June 16, 2014 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating.
This book is very well written. It brings the reader back to the Sixties and the unrest of the era. The Vietnam war was raging, times were changing and life as we knew it was gone.
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The Blanket Hill Insurgency is a great book for those who wish t
By Ed DeVos, an author on March 28, 2014 on BarnsAndNobel.Com. 5 out of 5 star rating.
The Blanket Hill Insurgency is a great book for those who wish to remember the events of the 1960s — the days of patriotism, the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution, the rising drug culture, and the ever-increasing influence media has upion our culture. For those who lived in the 60s, our memories have not dulled. For those who were too young, this book will give you insight of those days almost 50 years ago. Either way, the book is thought-provoking. An excellent read.
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The Banket Hill Insurgency ,snapshots of Kent and it’s painful moment in the 60’s
By Eric, one of my brothers on March 24, 2014 on Amazon.Com. 5 out of 5 star rating.
The Blanket Hill Insurgency was and easy read into a very complicated and troubled time in our Nation’s History. The Story’s Characters represent how the turmoil of that period affected individual’s attitudes and behavior. The story centers on the life of a student and his involvement on Campus at Kent, and as a participant in the Army during this time. How relationships were formed and challenged with the growing anti war movement becoming more and more a part of the Society. The book was very enjoyable for me to read. It was taking a trip back in time to remember the feelings that I had during that time of change and conflict.
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I really enjoyed reading anyone who went to Kent State at that time would enjoy it
By Ida M Prendes, on of my aunts on March 24, 2014 on Amazon.Com. 5 out of 5 star rating.
This book showed what led up to the May 4th incident I was very impressed how very well I could picture Everything that happened at that time, it was as if I was at the campus and seeing everything happening If he writes another book I definitely would buy and read it.
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Wonderful novel
By cindy m pullaro on June 1, 2014 on Amazon.Com, 5 out of 5 star rating.
What a wonderful historic novel. Easy reading that will bring you back to a time and place of history that should never be forgotten, lest we forget the mistakes of the past.
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Must read for understanding the cultural divide that occurred during the Viet Nam War
By Tony Wilson, one of my brothers on April 5, 2014 on Amazon.Com. 4 out of 5 star rating.
Growing up near Kent, I remember the headlines from the Cleveland Plain Dealer when the four students were killed at Kent State. Blanket Hill allows the reader to relive the changes that were taking place at Kent (and across the country) during the years of the Viet Nam war.
It is reminiscent of an Our Town approach, where the daily activities of a few are suddenly magnified to show how their inconsequential daily activities relate to a profound C-change in the culture and fabric of the United States.
Terry Wilson’s descriptions of Kent during this cultural transition allows his readers a fresh perspective on these changes.
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Good Representation of College Life during the Vietnam War
By Jerrie Brock , an author on May 21, 2014 on Amazon.Com, 4 out of 5 star rating.
This story shows what college life was like in the late 60’s and early 1970’s, as society was changing. It brings out the influences that began to question all the values which were once taken for granted, such as the Pill and the Vietnam War. It actually follows the main character, Richard Ames, life more than focusing on the turmoil erupting. It does do a good job of showing how Richard was in the midst of the changes and the effects on him and some of his friends. The nice thing about it is it does it without taking a stance of right or wrong on many of the differences between others. That is a refreshing change since it allows the reader to make their own choice of how to perceive it. I wish it had focused a little more on the growing conflicts between the various groups, and the final conflict on the Kent State Campus, but it still gives a good representation of the era. Its an enjoyable read and an interesting perspective.
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but Terry has taken the time and with great accuracy, in my view
Kent State was a very important event in the development of the anti-war activists of the 60’s (incidentally, many of whom are the “;leaders” in education and politics of today), but Terry has taken the time and with great accuracy, in my view, to point out the broader effect on lives of people who were not associated with the student radicals.and who suffered mightily .
It’s a good and exciting read, and I highly recommend it at any level
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Ken Wilkens
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