A former marine paralyzed from the chest down as a result of an injury suffered in Vietnam recalls his youth, battlefield experiences, and the agonies of his slow reentry into American society

Born on the Fourth of July

Kovic, Ron.

Biographies & Memoirs

McGraw=Hill

History

Asia

Demco Media

Pocket

Around the World in Eight Days

Around the world in eight days

Literature & Fiction

United States

CITY LIGHTS

Hitching west around the world from his home town of Massapequa, Long Island, a young man meets up with an Ohio tracker, police from Cicero, Illinois, a beautiful Brazilian exchange student, a fast driving Tucsonian, an irreverent Native American on a bike, and an array of crazy San Francisco characters, including a mad DJ--Doctor Twist.

City Lights Books

Hurricane Street

"Hurricane Street...[is] another raw expose on the cost of war. The book, which he calls a prequel, drills deep into the 17-day drama of a 1974 sit-in and hunger strike staged by Kovic and a band of fellow wounded veterans who took the federal building on Wilshire Boulevard by storm...The book is an unflinching anti-war declaration, written in blood and the sweat of too many haunted nights by a Vietnam Marine Corps sergeant who later opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." --Los Angeles Times
"The author of Born on the Fourth of July (1976) recounts the brief 1974 movement he initiated to change how Veterans Affairs hospitals cared for wounded soldiers...The great strength of this book is that the author never minces words. With devastating candor, he memorializes a short-lived but important movement and the men who made it happen. Sobering reflections on past treatment of America's injured war veterans." --Kirkus Reviews
"[A] compelling snapshot of early 1980s activism....Without social media or cell phones to boost the signal, it was Kovic's flair for the dramatic and ability to marshal reporters that turned the protest into a battle victory....Kovic's updates on the fates of his fellow veterans provide a memorable and bittersweet conclusion." --Publishers Weekly
"The author of the bestseller Born on the Fourth of July writes an impassioned and timely memoir about the 1974 American Veterans Movement that will strike a chord with veterans and their families today." --Publishers Weekly, Top 10 Pick for Spring 2016
"Kovic, a Vietnam veteran paralyzed from the waist down and the author of the seminal war memoir Born on the Fourth of July (1976), looks back to the spring of 1974, when he led a two-week hunger strike in the Los Angeles office of U.S. Senator Alan Cranston . . . Kovic's personal tale is also a timely topical book as veterans' mental and physical health care remain woefully insufficient." --Booklist
"Kovic has also penned a new book, Hurricane Street, that will be released on July 4th. The new book recounts how in 1974, the author and other injured veterans staged a sit-in and hunger strike to demand better treatment for vets." --Rolling Stone
"Renowned antiwar activist Kovic, a Vietnam veteran, delivers a powerful memoir detailing his organization of the American Veterans Movement (AVM) during the mid-1970s . . . This chronicle will resonate with those interested in the all-too-human effects of war and the challenges faced by our wounded warriors." -- Library Journal
"Forty years after the release of Born on the Fourth of July, the 1976 memoir that became the 1989 Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Cruise, author Ron Kovic gives us Hurricane Street, a memoir about his 1974 movement to change the way Veterans Affairs hospitals cared for wounded soldiers." --Parade
In the spring of 1974, as the last American troops were being pulled out of Vietnam, Ron Kovic and a small group of other severely injured veterans in a California VA hospital launched the American Veterans Movement. In a phenomenal feat of political organizing, Kovic corralled his fellow AVM members into staging a sit-in, and then a hunger strike, in the Los Angeles office of Senator Alan Cranston, demanding better treatment of injured and disabled veterans.
This was a short-lived and chaotic but ultimately successful movement to improve the deplorable conditions in VA hospitals across the country. Hurricane Street is their story--one that resonates deeply today--told

Community & Culture

Akashic Books Ltd

Born on the Fourth of July: 40th Anniversary Edition

"Classic and timeless." --New York Times
"The book details Kovic's entering of the Vietnam War as a fierce, pro-war patriot before becoming an outspoken peace activist after an injury paralyzed him and he returned home to a cold reception." --Rolling Stone
"Born on the Fourth of July tells the story of its author's transition from war hawk to protestor after being paralyzed in Vietnam, and coming home to a lukewarm reception. It's no coincidence that 'Born in The U.S.A.' tells very much the same tale." --Billboard
"Kovic's book follows him from star high school wrestler to a patriotic American inspired by John F. Kennedy to join the marines to the traumatic 1968 wartime injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down to his emergence as an outspoken anti-war activist." --Hollywood Reporter
"The 1976 book, which was made into an Oscar winning film starring Tom Cruise in 1989, details Kovic's period in the Vietnam War as a fierce, pro-war patriot before he became an outspoken peace activist after an injury paralysed him and he returned home to a cold reception." --NME
"He was born in the U.S.A.--and on the 4th of July. Bruce Springsteen narrates a foreword he wrote in the new audiobook edition of Born on the Fourth of July, Ron Kovic's anti-Vietnam War memoir." --New York Daily News
"There is no better time than Independence Day to listen [to] The Boss' iconic voice on the foreword and this great work of art." --Examiner
"For the 40th anniversary of the book, which became a movie in the '80s starring Tom Cruise, a new print edition was issued with a foreword written by Bruce Springsteen, and the audiobook is the only place where you can hear Bruce read his foreword directly to you. That's right, the Boss sets the tone for this extremely powerful and moving memoir in a way that you won't want to miss." --Omnivoracious
"Forty years ago the Vietnam vet from Massapequa--wounded in combat and in a wheelchair ever since--published his classic war memoir, later made into a film with Tom Cruise. The anniversary edition features a foreword by Bruce Springsteen. Kovic's new book, Hurricane Street, chronicles the 1970s activism of the American Veterans Movement." --Newsday
"Born on the Fourth of July chronicles Kovic's transformation from a gung-ho soldier entering the Vietnam War to his return home as a paralyzed man. His experiences overseas, as well as the terrible way he was treated when he came back, made Kovic's book one of the antiwar movement's most celebrated works." --Ultimate Classic Rock
"Kovic entered of the Vietnam War as a fierce, pro-war patriot before becoming an outspoken peace activist after an injury paralyzed him and he returned home to a cold reception as a veteran. His book tells his story." --Radio.com
"Born on the Fourth of July tells the story of Kovic's enlistment and how he became disillusioned with the war over time and especially after he returned home to the States. Many of the book's themes are echoed in Springsteen's hit song, 'Born in the U.S.A.'" --Asbury Park Press
With a new foreword by Bruce Springsteen.
This New York Times best seller (more than one million copies sold), presented here in a special fortieth-anniversary edition with a brand-new foreword by Bruce Springsteen, details the author's life story (portrayed by Tom Cruise in the Oliver Stone film)--from a patriotic soldier in Vietnam, to his severe battlefield injury, to his role as the country's most outspoken anti–Vietnam War advocate, spreading his message from his wheelchair.

Historical

A Dangerous Country: An American Elegy

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