Armageddon in Retrospect: And Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace

by Kurt Vonnegut Narrated by Rip Torn

Overview

The New York Times bestseller from the author of Slaughterhouse-Five-a “gripping” posthumous collection of Kurt Vonnegut's previously unpublished work on the subject of war and peace.

A fitting tribute to a literary legend and a profoundly humane humorist, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve previously unpublished writings. Imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor and outraged moral sense, the pieces range from a letter written by Vonnegut to his family in 1945, informing them that he'd been taken prisoner by the Germans, to his last speech, delivered after his death by his son Mark, who provides a warmly personal introduction to the collection. Taken together, these pieces provide fresh insight into Vonnegut's enduring literary genius and reinforce his ongoing moral relevance in today's world.

Includes an Introduction by Mark Vonnegut

Editorial Reviews

Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, but in many ways, his insights have become more relevant, not less, in the interim. Issued on the first anniversary of his demise, Armageddon in Retrospect collects 12 previously unpublished writings on war, peace, and our global future. The volume is enhanced by Vonnegut's own quirky artwork and a deeply personal introduction by his son Mark.

Kirkus Reviews

From the now-silent typewriter of the mordant humorist (A Man Without a Country, 2005, etc.), an uneven posthumous collection of fiction and nonfiction once again plumbing the madness and soul-destroying inhumanities of war. Following an introduction by the author's son Mark, the book opens with a 1945 letter former POW Vonnegut wrote to let his family know that he was alive. It is a masterpiece of understatement and concealment suffused with the rage that animated Vonnegut's writing to the very end. The second piece, one of the highlights of the volume, is a speech he did not live to deliver. It's irreverent, sardonic and elliptical. "If Jesus were alive today," he notes, "we would kill him with lethal injection. I call that progress." Next is an angry, detailed account of the Dresden bombing, the last nonfiction piece in the collection. Vonnegut blasts American pilots-they killed countless women and children, he asserts-and excoriates military strategists whose goal was to knock out the railroads, which were running two days after the bombing. The remainder of the collection is comprised of ten short stories, most dealing with war and violence, some with the experiences of POWs. The best of them, "Happy Birthday, 1951," is a touching but wrenching cautionary tale of the fascination of the very young with the machinery of war; its final image of a little boy on a ruined tank is almost unbearably poignant-and hopeless. The other stories are previously unpublished for good reason; they are repetitive and predictable, little more than discarded shavings from the rich sculptures of Vonnegut's major works. In places, we hear that unique, vigorous voice; in others, only the sad but certainecho of "nothing gold can stay."

From the Publisher

Praise for Kurt Vonnegut and Armageddon in Retrospect

“Gripping...demonstrates Vonnegut’s mind-boggling evolution as a writer, the manner in which he learned to cloak his rage in hilarity, to cop to his immense despair without surrendering to it.”—Salon

“A terrific post-traumatic witnessing.”—Roy Blount, The New York Times Book Review

“The dark irony that lies beneath Vonnegut's wry, satiric work is always in the service of the individual...and against the system.”—The Boston Globe

“Vonnegut has proved more enduring than the counterculture that embraced him.”—The Village Voice

“A voice like his doesn't fade. Vonnegut had a way of making the bleakest thought seem insanely funny.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

BookPage

As in most of his celebrated writings, Vonnegut strikes a fine balance here between the impersonal horrors of war and the mundane coping mechanisms of its victims, between past realities and future possibilities and, ultimately, between good and evil. A BookPage Notable Title.”

AudioFile

An engaging compilation of twelve of the author’s most compelling writings…Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the essays is their variety…Vonnegut does not mince words, and the material is thought-provoking, captivating, and humorous.”

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169468199
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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