Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1969. It follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years to his time as an American soldier and chaplain’s assistant during World War II, to the postwar years, with Billy occasionally traveling through time itself. The text centers on Billy’s capture by the German Army and his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner-of-war, an experience which Vonnegut himself lived through as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of “unmatched moral clarity” and “one of the most enduring antiwar novels of all time.”