Fates Worse Than Death - by Kurt Vonnegut (Paperback)

About the Book

In this revealing collection of essays, Vonnegut examines the issues and events (both personal and social) that shaped the last decade. Ranging from an intimate portrait of his family to a biting commentary of ex-son-in-law Geraldo Rivera to the 1945 firebombing of Dresden, Germany, where he was a POW, this book "offers a rare insight into an author who has customarily hidden his heart" (New York Times).

Book Synopsis

"An anthology in which Vonnegut freely quotes himself on everything from art and architecture to madness and mass murder...Uncompromising."--Los Angeles Times

"Honest and scarily funny, and it offers a rare insight into an author who has customarily hidden his heart."--New York Times

Here we have a collection of essays and speeches by me, with breezy autobiographical commentary serving as connective tissue and splints and bandages. Here we go again with real life and opinions made to look like one big, preposterous animal not unlike an invention by Dr. Seuss...

--Kurt Vonnegut, from Fates Worse Than Death

Review Quotes

Praise for Kurt Vonnegut and Fates Worse Than Death

"Mr. Vonnegut is perhaps more intimate with the reader than ever."--The New York Times

"An often insightful and always funny self-portrait that may be as much of an autobiography as we will ever get from Vonnegut."--Playboy

"The kindred spirit of Mark Twain harpoons humanity with howling assessments...Vonnegut's genius for satire continues to shine."--Nashville Banner

"Mordantly funny...highly entertaining."--New York Newsday

About the Author

Kurt Vonnegut was a master of contemporary American literature. His black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America's attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him, in the words of The New York Times, as "a true artist" with the publication of Cat's Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, "one of the best living American writers." Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.