Having come to prominence only with his sixth novel, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is a rare example of an author who has been equally important to popular audiences and avant-garde critics. His fiction and public spokesmanship spans all five of the decades since World War II and engages most social, political, and philosophical issues of these times. It is Vonnegut's manner of expression that makes him both popular and perplexing, for his humorous approach to serious topics confounds critical expectations while delighting readers who themselves may be fed up with expert opinion.

November 11, 1922, is the date of Kurt Vonnegut's birth, a birthday he considers significant for its coincidence with Armistice Day celebrations noting the end of World War I. From his upbringing in Indianapolis, Indiana among a culturally prominent family descended from German immigrant Free-Thinkers of the 1850s, the young author-to-be developed...