1960's The Arts | Slaughterhouse-Five

Novel

By: Kurt Vonnegut

Date: 1969

Source: Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death. New York: Delacorte Press, 1969; reprinted New York: Delta, 1999, 29–35.

About the Author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1922–) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His major works include Mother Night (1962), Cat's Cradle (1963) and Bluebeard (1988). Both a novelist and short story writer, Vonnegut became a cult writer during the 1960s. He is also a social critic who analyzes how science and technology affect our lives.

Introduction

Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death relates the story of Billy Pilgrim, a chaplain's assistant in World War II (1939–45) who is present at the bombing of Dresden, Germany. An estimated 135,000 civilians were killed in this bombing, where...