In the spring of 1972, the small, Missouri town of Harrisonville found itself with a hippie problem. Hippies had settled into the town square surrounding the county courthouse. The group of young people included men who had recently returned from tours in Vietnam as well as high school teens who idolized these older men. City leaders needed to act. But how?
The situation worsened to the point that one of the hippies, Charlie Simpson, would enter the square on April 21
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with an M-1 carbine and murder three people before taking his own life. After the tragic shootings, the situation with the hippies did not improve. Tiring of the situation, some Harrisonville citizens formed a vigilante group to attempt to drive the hippies off the square. The two groups would clash in the battle of the Harrisonville Square.
Through extensive research, the author, a former Harrisonville resident, tells the compelling true story of the conflict between hippie culture and polite society in the early 1970s in the small town.
Hippie War: Battle for the Harrisonville Square
takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey through the genesis of the problem, the murders, and what steps were taken attempting to bring the two sides together.