Ron Kovic reaches within himself to discover years of pain that have been ignored. The use of poetic prose and honesty creates a sense of responsibility to ones self in the reader. I would request anyone who finds artist revolations a turn on to read this as often as they can.

This book was incredible!!! It's been so long since any war book has captured the essence of battle so vividly and with such detail and accountability. This isa book everyone needs to read if there is ever a hope of any long lasting peaceworldwide.

I have just read Born on the Fourth of July. I found it to be a very moving account of Ron Kovic. He is very graphic when he explains his thoughts, feelings, and the hospitals. I think that it should be that way. The war should not be sugar coated the way some people depict it. If it wasn't, America would not know what the veterans really had to go through. From this book I have learned more about the Vietnam War then I ever learned in school. I think Ron Kovic did an excellent job writing this book. I recommend it to anyone interested in veterans or the Vietnam War.

I had first seen Oliver Stone's adaptation when I was 11 years old. My pre-pubescent sensibility didn't allow me to comprehend what was on the screen, either did my post-adolescent sensibility. This past summer I had read Mailer's "Armies of the Night", and never stopped pondering the concluding line, "For we must end on the road to that mystery where courage, death, and the dream of love give promise of sleep." So then, what does it mean to be an American? Kovic brought this statement forth in such a compelling manner, that I couldn't help asking myself this question, while reading. I sit cozily, well-fed, and warm, reading this book as an undergraduate; Kovic's experience is unfathomable to a slothful log like myself. Perhaps, this is the point of Kovic's heart-felt articulation, to awaken us, the slumbering masses, who watch a media blurb on war and violence, then leave it behind us and change the channel, while eating our turkey breast with gravy. Things like Vietnam will always happen as long as people remain quiet and content! Thank you Ron Kovic for reminding me of this lesson.

I became familiar with Ron Kovic while still a Marine. Probably in 71 or 72 after I returned from Vietnam. Luckily I was not wounded. While stationed in Hawaii after returning, I had the occasion to join Vietnam Veterans Against the War. A friend tried in vane to persuade me to join, but I never could quite do it. I had been taught just like thousands of other young recruits that ours was a noble deed. I still believe that. However...after having read this book, I became much more enlightened to what a lot of men experienced after being wounded/and or wounded severely and emotionally. This book is not about a man against America, but in favor of waking some people up to the horrors of war and the terrible losses we all suffer because of war. A must read.

I read this book once a year and have since I was a little rocker boy who wanted to know more behind the Metallica song, "One." I have grown quite a bit since then and each time I read the simple book, it has a bit more meaning.

Overall the common idea I get from the book is "as a soldier, who's war am I fighting?" The book points towards politicans and policy makers as the reason Joe is over there. Consequently, the book would point this as the reason behind every war since WWI. It's an idea, and should be seen as that. It's not doctrine, but it's an interesting idea. Just another one to have logged in the back of your head for those future stimulating conversations on the necessity of the military, politicians and/or war.

Johnny Got His Gun is the most captivating and powerful anti-war novel that I have ever read. It is a story of a young American man by the name of Joe Bonham who is drafted into World War I and gets blown up while he is there. Dalton Trumbo, the author, takes his readers through a breathtaking journey of this one man's struggle with life. Joe becomes quadriplegic and he loses all his senses except touch because of the explosion during the war. How could a man survive in such a world in which he could not communicate. Trumbo uses Joe's mind as a reason for this will to stay alive. He takes us through the memories of his life before he entered the war. From meaningful memories of him and his dad fishing together to nonsense memories of when he worked in a bakery and a man named Jose threw cherry pies on the floor. When Joe awakes from his long sleep, he finds himself lying in a hospital bed hopeless, lifeless. Joe begins to realize that even though he has lost all his limbs he's still a human being with feelings, thoughts, and emotions. He can still think for himself and use his mind in a meaningful manner. As he lays there in his death bed he begins to wonder about time, what day it is or how many days have come and gone. Joe begins to use his mind to find out all the things he wonders. He begins to track the nurses schedules be feeling the vibrations from their footsteps, and then he would count the seconds that passed until the next visit. Trumbo shows us how Joe wants to be able to communicate by using Morse Code. After a long hard struggle his day nurse is finally able to understand that Joe is trying to communicate to her. She responds to him by writing letters on his chest over and over again until he gets the word. His day nurse brings in a doctor to see what Joe is trying to tell them. Trumbo shows that Joe wants to explain to the world that war can do to you and how fighting for nothing is pointless and risking your life for nothing is unthinkable. The doctor then informs Joe that his wishes cannot be granted because it is against regulations. His hopes are shattered, all that he has done to try to communicate and try to stay alive and think about all the good that he has done is gone. Joe's world turns black and fades away. Johnny Got His Gun is the most captivating anti-war novel out there. Dalton Trumbo does an exceptional job in explaining to us the life of a young man who lives as a stump because of the tragedy in the war. He conveys to us how to live with your mind and not your body. This intense and emotional book is filled with vivid language and detailed thoughts that will take your breath away. This is a MUST read for everyone.

There was a time when war was still noble and ticker tape fell freely on the heads of veterans; our American heroes. There was an era in US history when wars ended with extravagant parades while lovers were reunited after years apart. Dalton Trumbo's chilling novel, Johnny Got His Gun, is about that era--but there are no heroes here. This tale has nothing to do with the romantic homecomings and thrilling American victories. Johnny Got His Gun is about the atrocious reality behind the glitzy Hollywood definition of warfare. Set during World War I, Trumbo's novel tells the story of a brutally injured and disabled man. Isolation has never known such lonliness. The main character, Joe Boeham, describes himself as the "living dead man." He has no arms, no legs, no face, no tongue to speak, no ears to hear, and no eyes to see. This book is the thoughts of Joe Boeham, slipping in and out of time. He describes his past and you can feel the despair in him as he describes his present; his future. The authour's lack of punctuation gives the reader the notion that Joe Boeham has simply a string of thoughts; beginning nowhere and refusing to end. Boeham's goal in life is merely to live. No, not to breathe, not simply to have a steady heartbeat but rather to find in himself some remaining human characteristic. Lying beneath the surface, Dalton Trumbo incorporates Boeham's opinions regarding the draft, warfare in general, and fighting for a word: democracy. A thought provoking, page-turner, Johnny Got His Gun, is not a book you'll soon forget. This is a masterpiece that has touched the masses helping in the struggle to end the glorification of war.