Born on the Fourth of July.

KOVIC, Ron.

Item Number: 121378

New York : McGraw-Hill, 1976.

First edition of this classic book, basis for the 1989 film directed by Oliver Stone. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, warmly inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “To Elena, Love, Rain, Respect Ron.” Very good in a very good price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph by Bob Adelman.

Born on the Fourth of July was written in Santa Monica, California, during the fall of 1974 in exactly one month, three weeks and two days. It tells the story of Kovic's life growing up in Massapequa, New York, joining the United States Marine Corps right out of high school, going to Vietnam for two tours of duty, getting shot, finding himself paralyzed and in need of a wheelchair, and eventually starting a new life as a peace activist. It is the basis for the 1989 Oliver Stone film and written by Stone and Kovic, it stars Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley, and Willem Dafoe.