Description: Good. Previous library paper back; plastic over cover; edges have some wear; some stamps/stickers; no writing within text. RTB189. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Pocket
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780671739140ISBN:067173914X
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Edition: First Pocket Books Paperback
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books, New York
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780671811853ISBN:0671811851
Description: Good Plus. Pocket 81185. July 1977. 1st printing. A square and tight copy. Price on front cover in felt. Rubbing to front and back covers. Light page tanning. date stamped on front end page. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780671681494ISBN:0671681494
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Moderate wear on Cover/Interior Pages. (W3) Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Used-Acceptable. Cover shows wear. Small cover tear. Front or back cover creased. Tanning to pages and cover. Slight rubbing and bumping damage to corners and edges. Cover shows some scuffing. Spine shows wear. This book ships in padded mailer via USPS. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Pocket Books
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780671681494ISBN:0671681494
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. -, Mass Market PaperBack, Very Good / read more
"This book had a huge affect on me when I read it (in 1988) I think the sensationalism of the movie kind of overwhelms the quiet story telling of the book. This guy thought and felt very deeply and he went through the worst wringer of all while doing so."
"I was so moved by Tom Cruise's emotionally grueling (and Academy Award-nominated) performance in the film Born on the Fourth of July, that I immedately had to read the book. I was even more moved by Ron Kovic's personal account of his life-altering injury received while a solider in Vietnam. Kovic is a naturally gifted writer, although his narrative is a bit disjoinetd. He switches back and forth between first- and third-person narration, and mixes up his chapters chronologically. This doesn't matter, though, because his descriptions of his early patriotism and eagerness to join the U.S. Marines contrasted to his later pain at being a disabled Vietnam vet who gets precious little respect to an impassioned activist against the Vietnam war is riveting from start to finish. A particularly moving part of Kovic's book is the description of the V.A. Hospital where he resided after his war injury, then later after he broke his leg. The ex-soldiers virtually live in squalor with shamefully inadequate staff and care. I was so impressed with Kovic's description of his healthy, happy, athletic childhood, which he later contrasted so antithetically to the ongoing trauma of being paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair. Kovic is understandably inconsolable about the loss of his mobility, athletic prowess, and ability to perform sexually. Nevertheless, his subsequent life has been one of energy and activism and the production of several more books--all of them anti-war in nature. The main theme that runs through Kovic's story is disillusionment; that is, the tale of a young man in 1950s America who had grown up religious and patriotic, believing his country could never let him down, who then realizes he has given a great portion of his personal being for a cause that meant very little, and for a country that cares next to nothing about his plight. I was once moved to write a comparison paper of Born on the Fourth of July with Alfred de Musset's Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle (see my review on that book as well), which, although it takes place in France in the early 19th century, has a similar theme. The French soldiers who limped back from the Napoleonic wars seemed to suffer the same kind of let-down about their country and their former patriotism that Kovic experienced. Kovic realizes, "He has never been anything but a thing to them, at thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run through the meat-grinder, a cheap small nothing thing to made mincement out of" (Kovic 166). This is a book of strong words and strong emotions, and it provokes some serious rethinking of a lot of the propaganda and platitudes that we all have been taught to hold dear. In my opinion, this is a must-read for all Americans, and particularly for those in the military or those thinking of joining the military."
"A must-read (along with All Quiet On The Western Front and Johnny Got His Gun) as far as moving war stories are concerned. This is a thoroughly honest account of one's man experience before, during and after Vietnam. Very moving, very touching."
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