Armageddon in Retrospect

The late, great Kurt Vonnegut wrestles with the horrors of his age in this collection of unpublished writings that showcase his trademark humor and humanism. Varied in form and tone, the pieces are united in theme as they reflect on facets of war and peace. Vonnegut is by turns funny and poignant, serious and irreverent as he discusses the fantasies of Army men, the harrowing firebombing of Dresden, and the attraction of violence to young boys. An early letter to his parents describing his own experiences in war is a uniquely personal peek at the psychological genesis of all his future writings, in which he would learn to express his moral outrage through comic absurdism.