Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW, much like Vonnegut did. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber?s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. Published on March 31, 1969, Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children?s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war.
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history?sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness?as he struggles to find purpose, order, or meaning to his own existence and to that of humanity. Slaughterhouse-Five is the story of Billy Pilgrim, a World War II veteran and POW who becomes ?unstuck in time,? experiencing all known events of his chronology out of order and sometimes simultaneously. Illustrated and signed by Julian De Narvaez An American classic named by Modern Library as one of the top 20 best novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five is Kurt Vonnegut?s semi-autobiographical, science fiction infused anti-war masterpiece that defies genre. In The Writer's Crusade, author Tom Roston examines the connection between Vonnegut's life and Slaughterhouse-Five." First edition, Hardcover, New in dust jacket,
They're told by the book's author/narrator, and experienced by his enduring character Billy Pilgrim, a war veteran who 'has come unstuck in time.' Writing during the tumultuous days of the Vietnam conflict, with the novel, Vonnegut had, after more than two decades of struggle, taken trauma and created a work of art, one that still resonates today. To the millions of fans of Vonnegut's great novel, these details are familiar. He was taken to a POW camp, then transferred to a work camp near Dresden, and held in a slaughterhouse called Schlachthof Fünf where he survived the horrific firebombing that killed thousands and destroyed the city. Less than two years later, he was captured by the Germans in the single deadliest US engagement of the war, the Battle of the Bulge.
Cover artwork by: Devin Grosz "Kurt Vonnegut was twenty years old when he enlisted in the United States Army. First edition, Hardcover, New in dust jacket, 260 pp.
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