Bruce Springsteen wrote a new foreword to the audiobook version of Born on the Fourth of July, the 1976 book by Ron Kovic about his time in Vietnam and struggles after he came home. The book partly inspired some songs on Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album.

The singer-songwriter also reads his newly penned foreword in the audiobook. You can hear it below.

Born on the Fourth of July chronicles Kovic's transformation from a gung-ho soldier entering the Vietnam War to his return home as a paralyzed man. His experiences overseas, as well as the terrible way he was treated when he came back, made Kovic's book one of the antiwar movement's most celebrated works.

His story was made into a 1989 movie directed by Oliver Stone, who won an Oscar as Best Director for the film, and starring Tom Cruise, who was nominated as Best Actor.

Springsteen talks about how he first read the book in 1978 and met Kovic not too long afterward. After the veteran introduced him to others at a California center, Springsteen held a 1981 benefit concert for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and dedicated songs to him from the stage. "Born in the U.S.A." and the 1984 B-side "Shut Out the Light" were both inspired by Kovic's book.

The new audiobook version of Born on the Fourth of July will be released on, appropriately, July 4. A 40th anniversary edition of the book, which also includes Springsteen's foreword, will also be released that day. Voice actor Holter Graham narrates the audiobook, which is available for pre-order now.

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