And so it goes: Kurt Vonnegut, a life

Description

Out of print and scared to death -- You were an accident, 1922-1940 -- One of the biggest fools on the hill, 1940-1943 -- To war in the bridal suite, 1943-1945 -- Folk Society and the House of Magic, 1945-1947 -- Stop being such a hardheaded realist, 1948-1951 -- The dead engineer, 1951-1958 -- Cooped up with all these kids, 1958-1965 -- A community of writers, 1965-1967 -- The big Ka-BOOM, 1967-1969 -- Goodbye and goodbye and goodbye, 1969-1971 -- Cultural bureaucrat, 1971-1974 -- Ripped off, 1975-1979 -- Looking for Mr. Vonnegut, 1980-1984 -- Dear celebrity, 1984-1991 -- Waiting to die, 1992-2007 -- Appendix. Vonnegut-Lieber family history.;From the publisher. An authorized portrait of the influential twentieth-century American writer draws on first-person accounts and Vonnegut's private letters while offering insight into his youth, the inspirations for his work, and his enduring literary impact. Kurt Vonnegut remains one of the most influential, controversial, and popular novelists of the twentieth century. While millions know him as a counterculture guru, antiwar activist, and satirist of American culture, few outside his closest friends and family knew the full arc of his extraordinary life. This book changes that as it paints the portrait of a man who made friends easily but always felt lonely, sold millions of books but never felt appreciated, and described himself as a humanist but fought with humanity at large. As a former public relations man, Vonnegut crafted his image carefully -- the avuncular, curly-haired humorist -- though he admitted, "I myself am a work of fiction." After five years of research, drawing on hundreds of interviews with Vonnegut, his family and his friends, this book reveals one of literature's most idiosyncratic, beloved, and enigmatic icons. It is the definitive biography of Kurt Vonnegut.