Born on the Fourth of July

Rating:
Summary: Good, but. . .
Review: I read this book with the idea of using it in a high school course on the 1960s. I found the concept of hero-worship and hero-becoming compelling, and think that Kovic raises difficult questions about Americans' mythologizing their heroes. The battle scenes, told in a third person narrative, were also fascinating and distressing. Where my interest flagged, however, is Kovic's narrative of his becoming an anti-war activist. Although this clearly is his reason for writing the book, the episodes begin to sound repetitive. Nevertheless, I will use it and let you know how my students liked it.

Rating:
Summary: The book was true, man.
Review: I was an active protester at the Kent State riot in 1970. I didn't get to see what happened up close, but it was amazing at how massively participated it was as a country's protest toward the war. After reading this book, I felt sorry for Ron Kovic, and apologized to him in my mind for how I treated the Vets. I realized how wrong I was. I loved the book. It was well written for such an in-experianced author, and I would rank him with some of the best authors of this time.

Rating:
Summary: YeA!
Review: I wAs FoRcEd To ReAd ThIs BoOk FoR mY dEmAnDiNg EnGlIsH TeAcHeR. It WaS vErY gRaFiC. It ReALLy TaUgHt Me AlOt. ReAd iT! iT wAs a LoVeLy, WeLL wRiTtEn nOvEl.

Rating:
Summary: The tragic nature of war.
Review: Kovic details his early life and from there extends to the Vietnam War. In the war, Kovic is shot and his spinal cord severed, leading to no feeling below the chest. This is an obvious tragedy as were the 58,000 Amercians and millions of Vietnamese killed in the war. Most people have seen the film which was based on the book.
When reading this book, I came to view Ron Kovic as a self centered egotist. His injury and his feelings were all that mattered. If people disagreed with him, they were wrong and he was right. In fact in the book, if a person disagreed with him, he was obviously guilty of something. Cops who arrested him were guilty of brutality. Secret Service agents evicting him from the Republican National Convention were trying to cover up. The Georgia corporal he shot was a bigot. I don't think Kovic knows but he just surmises. This goes on throughout the book and it gets a little annoying. I understand his tragedy, but there were many who were affected by this war Ron, not just you.
...

Rating:
Summary: The tragic nature of war.
Review: Kovic details his early life and from there extends to the Vietnam War. In the war, Kovic is shot and his spinal cord severed, leading to no feeling below the chest. This is an obvious tragedy as were the 58,000 Amercians and millions of Vietnamese killed in the war. Most people have seen the film which was based on the book.
When reading this book, I came to view Ron Kovic as a self centered egotist. His injury and his feelings were all that mattered. If people disagreed with him, they were wrong and he was right. In fact in the book, if a person disagreed with him, he was obviously guilty of something. Cops who arrested him were guilty of brutality. Secret Service agents evicting him from the Republican National Convention were trying to cover up. The Georgia corporal he shot was a bigot. I don't think Kovic knows but he just surmises. This goes on throughout the book and it gets a little annoying. I understand his tragedy, but there were many who were affected by this war Ron, not just you.
...

Rating:
Summary: Great documentation
Review: Mr. Kovic documents the conditions of his surroundings very well. His narrative is clear and distinct concerning his upbringing, his role in the war and life thereafter. Because the tone of the work is documentation, it lacks the deeper psychological aspects other war testimonies contain. Unfortunately, he also distracts the reader by not discussing his injuries sooner in the piece, such as after release from the hospital. Overall, it is still a book well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Born on the Fourth of July
Review: Poorly written! If you want to read a better book that deals with similar topic, I recommend 'All Quiet on the Western Front'

Rating:
Summary: Ron Kovic is a hero.
Review: Ron Kovic has done many things for this country and has suffered alot. Not only during his tour of Vietnam but also and even more importantly afterwards.
This book explores Ron's feelings, and most honest thoughts and deeds.
However, I did not really enjoy reading it. I was very interested in his story and regard Ron Kovic as a hero. I think he is a good man who has fought hard to accomplish many things. You can't help but feel as if you know part of him through reading this book. This isn't just a book, it is someones LIFE.
That being said, the book was dry in many parts, hard to comprehend when he went from first person to third person (Yes, I understand the psychology behind it) and overall dry, dry, dry. I enjoyed seeing what really happened in his life, rather then the movie. However, I think you can watch the movie and in some ways get just as much of the feeling if you keep in mind it is real.

Rating:
Summary: This book was inspiring to me because;
Review: This book did an excellent job on depicting Vietnam form the soldiers viewpoint. Ron Kovic was a soldier in Vietnam who was shot and paralized from the chest down. His life story was truly inspiring to many people, including myself. Ryan J. Williams

Rating:
Summary: Great documentation
Review: This book is not the movie, which I would not let children watch because of its graphic sexual content. The book was a clean, even noble, discussion of Ron Kovic's early optimism in life and his later disillusionment with the war and the government's treatment of veterans.

This book is the story of Mr. Kovic's early all-American years before the war, his war experiences, his injury experiences, and his changes of heart that drove him to activism.

I would love to read a second volume of Mr. Kovic's life story and get an update on his life to date.