In the spring of 1974, as the last American troops were being pulled out of Vietnam, Ron Kovic and a small group 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 of Born on the Fourth of July.

"Hurricane Street is a work of both memory and fiction. Some names and details have been changed out of respect for people's privacy and to fill gaps in my memory."--P. 13. "For the sake of presenting a coherent story line, I have also taken the liberty of creating two characters: Tony D., who is essentially a composite of several sight-impaired Vietnam veterans I knew while I was a patient at the Bronx and Long Beach VA hospitals; and Joe Hayward, who represents a number of seriously wounded veterans I knew during the period. In addition, I have combined the two AVM takeovers of the Washington Monument in the spring and summer of 1974 into a single action "--Pp. 13-14.

The hospital -- The strike -- The aftermath.