WHIPLASH is at its heart, a young man's journey from college-frathouse-boobs-&-beer to the harsh truths and tough choices of adulthood. That it takes place in 1969-70 around the night the Vietnam War draft numbers were announced, makes this a different kind of coming of age story. With humor, clarity and insight, O'Neill weaves together the public upheaval of the time with the emotional cataclysms of becoming an adult. When Danny discovers his girlfriend is with someone else, our hearts break with his. And all along the way, the laugh out loud moments pull us forward.

by Renata Simone (Marblehead, MA) on October 14, 2013

This book took me right back to where I was when the lottery numbers were called. It's a poignant and sometimes raucous memoir of Dartmouth students (at a time when the very first woman was admitted to the school!) whose lives were changed immeasurably by the country's need to institute a forced lottery. A great read that you won't want to put down!

by Good reader (Burbank, CA USA) on October 6, 2013

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... circa 1969. A year after the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, the Chicago riots, and the election of Richard Nixon; a year before the Kent State killings and the rapid escalation of the Vietnam protests, 1969 was the first year of the Selective Service lottery, created to determine who would be drafted into the Vietnam War, and young men across the country suddenly found their lives at a tipping point... Read More »

by tc243 on November 11, 2013

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... circa 1969. A year after the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, the Chicago riots, and the election of Richard Nixon; a year before the Kent State killings and the rapid escalation of the Vietnam protests, 1969 was the first year of the Selective Service lottery, created to determine who would be drafted into the Vietnam War, and young men across the country suddenly found their lives at a tipping point... Read More »

by tc243 on November 11, 2013

In this moving and thoughtful book, Denis O'Neill shines a light on a fraught, but largely unexamined moment in recent American history: When the Selective Service System finally came to grips with the unfairness of the draft that was sending mostly the poor, the uneducated, the unlucky to fight and die in Vietnam. The solution was the lottery, which, in theory, put all candidates on an equal footing. Of course, that wasn't the way it worked out. O'Neill tells his story through the largely true experience of a group of privileged young men at Dartmouth College... Read More »

by BleacherSeat445 on October 20, 2013

This book took me right back to where I was when the lottery numbers were called. It's a poignant and sometimes raucous memoir of Dartmouth students (at a time when the very first woman was admitted to the school!) whose lives were changed immeasurably by the country's need to institute a forced lottery. A great read that you won't want to put down!

by Good reader (Burbank, CA USA) on October 6, 2013

I was lucky enough to read and give my very positive input on early drafts of Whiplash - The Book, written by screenwriter and author Denis O'Neil. It's a funny and thoughtful memoir set at Dartmouth, recounting "when the Vietnam War rolled a hand grenade into the Animal House" with the re-institution of the draft. Dartmouth people, consider taking a look. Producer people, consider optioning before Denis does his NPR interview.

by Alexis Jolly on October 8, 2013

Even though it appears O'Neill never went to class and spent most of his college years in a beer induced haze, he somehow learned to turn a phrase. The boy can write. Some moments in the book are pure poetry, and when mixed with the shenanigans that filled that last year of school, that was what gave me whiplash- in a good way. I loved this book. I kept remembering the same thoughts and worries as my brother faced the draft. Read More »

by Pepper on November 17, 2013

Even though it appears O'Neill never went to class and spent most of his college years in a beer induced haze, he somehow learned to turn a phrase. The boy can write. Some moments in the book are pure poetry, and when mixed with the shenanigans that filled that last year of school, that was what gave me whiplash- in a good way. I loved this book. I kept remembering the same thoughts and worries as my brother faced the draft. Read More »

by Pepper on November 17, 2013

In this moving and thoughtful book, Denis O'Neill shines a light on a fraught, but largely unexamined moment in recent American history: When the Selective Service System finally came to grips with the unfairness of the draft that was sending mostly the poor, the uneducated, the unlucky to fight and die in Vietnam. The solution was the lottery, which, in theory, put all candidates on an equal footing. Of course, that wasn't the way it worked out. O'Neill tells his story through the largely true experience of a group of privileged young men at Dartmouth College... Read More »

by BleacherSeat445 on October 20, 2013