Hurricane Street

"A great courageous fellow, a man of deep moral convictions and an uncompromising disposition."—Secretary of State John Kerry on Ron Kovic

"As relevant as ever, Born on the Fourth of July is an education. Ron is a true American, and his great heart and hard-won wisdom shine through these pages."—Oliver Stone

"Born on the Fourth of July is a classic of antiwar literature and I hope it will be read by large numbers of young people, who will be both sobered and inspired by his story."—Howard Zinn

In the spring of 1974, as the last American troops were being pulled out of Vietnam, Ron Kovic and a crew 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 by Kovic in the passionate and brutally honest style that led to over one million sales ofBorn on the Fourth of July.

Ron Kovic served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. He was paralyzed from his chest down in combat in 1968 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Along with Oliver Stone, Kovic was the co-screenwriter of the 1989 Academy Award–winning film based on Kovic's best-selling memoir Born on the Fourth of July (starring Tom Cruise as Kovic).