re: Can anyone recommend a book that recounts that fateful day at Kent State University?

No, but the factual accounts, based on the primary source documents, tell a very different story than the typical pop culture version of events.

SDS had no real grievance beyond undermining American culture and government. Their goal was to create as much violence and discomfort as possible and they largely succeeded in the short term.

The Ohio National Guard created a lesson learned for dealing with domestic riot control, civil unrest, and seditious organizations. Planners need to be able to distinguish bn the 3, even when they are intertwined.

After SDS burned down buildings and began hurling glass, rocks, and bricks at the Guardsmen, the Soldiers defended themselves.

The biggest mistake by the men on the ground was firing warning shots over the rioters heads, which then struck bystander students farther away.

The rioters who were shot seem to have got what they deserved. The bystander students did not. It was mindblowing to read personal accounts of students and soldiers, as well as official reports and early news stories, before the narrative was established. Nothing like Crosby, Stills, and Nash or other pop references infer.

While musicians, journalists, and pop culture in general treated the violent SDS rioters like sweet, innocent "protesters," Nixon still won 49 of 50 states in 1972 (Part of his campaign platform was denouncing those extremist groups).

There has to be a book that covers it all in a factual and even handed way, but I havent found it yet. Good luck.