Slaughterhouse-five, or, The children's crusade : a duty-dance with death
(Book)

"A fourth-generation German-American now living in easy circumstances on Cape Cod (and smoking too much), who, as an American infantry scout hors de combat, as a prisoner of war, witnessed the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany, "The Florence of the Elbe," a long time ago, and survived to tell the tale. This is a novel somewhat in the telegraphic schizophrenic manner of tales of the planet Tralfamadore, where the flying saucers come from. Peace."

Series statement taken from jacket.

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic "Slaughterhouse-five" introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes "unstuck in time" after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden. "Slaughterhouse-five" is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is also as important as any written since 1945. Like "Catch-22", it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. "Slaughterhouse-five" boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it unique poignancy and humor.