Armageddon in Retrospect
Armageddon in Retrospect book cover

Armageddon in Retrospect

Paperback – Illustrated, April 7, 2009

Price
$14.99
Format
Paperback
Pages
240
Publisher
Berkley
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0425226896
Dimensions
5.43 x 0.48 x 8.24 inches
Weight
11.2 ounces

Description

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 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.

Features & Highlights

  • 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  • —a “gripping” posthumous collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s previously unpublished work on the subject of war and peace.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  • is a collection of twelve previously unpublished writings.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

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(120)
★★★★
25%
(50)
★★★
15%
(30)
★★
7%
(14)
-7%
(-14)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Pay attention to the title

This is a collection of writings published posthumously that all have one thing in common. They are the author's reflections on his time in his personal living "Armageddon." If you've read Slaughterhouse-5, you'll recall that Vonnegut was a POW hiding in a meat locker during the firebombing of Dresden in WWII. This is a group of writings that, when collected together, seem to show him using his creativity to deal with the horrors of war. It explores his experience from many different points of view including science fiction and even a graduation speech. It is very contemplative and seeks empathy from the reader. I recommend it for someone already familiar with the author's works and possibly for anyone who has been in war and could use some help digesting their experiences. Overall, the tone is very uplifting, reflecting the author's ability to find the good in humanity no matter the inevitable negatives.
5 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

but good. If you love Vonnegut for who he is ...

Well, that was different. Different, but good. If you love Vonnegut for who he is and what he writes you'll enjoy it. Yet, these short stories are different. Published posthumously they're not necessarily the normal stories you'd see -- perhaps he'd never meant for them to be published. Yet, I'm glad they were and to see this side of Vonnegut.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Quite a Slaughter

Vonnegut's fiction has long been a favorite of mine, but I also thoroughly enjoyed reading these "essays" from a perspective at the end of his career. Vonnegut's son pays fine tribute and eases the reader into this collection of memorabilia that is still very "in tune" with current events.

If you haven't read Slaughterhouse Five since high school this may be the motivation you need.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

the effects of war

Other reviewers describe this book as uneven which it certainly is but what I really liked about this book is the plain language he uses that contrasts with the artier smart ass tone that we often see in his more famous work. I found in this book two identifiable reasons that Vonnegut is a national treasure.

He taught us about the effects of WWII long before anyone else acknowledged or even recognized what they were. I don't believe it ever dawned on anyone that WW II vets suffered from PTSD until Saving Private Ryan. But retrospectively, Slaughterhouse Five, a perfect description of it. Since my father died a suicide as a result of WWII induced PTSD, Kurt's work is close to my heart.

More importantly, he was intimately acquainted with human idiocy and cruelty, but he refused to hate. I read this at the same time as I was reading a surprisingly similar book by the Dalai Lama on how to be compassionate. Both Kurt and the Dalai tell us directly to be kinder to one another which is very good advice in these very ugly times. Kurt described himself as a canary in a coal mine- that he was.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Sorry, Kurt...

Wow. Kurt Vonnegut is easily my favorite author. Hands down, bar none. 'Welcome to the Monkey House' is really beyond my ability to explain. I guess it was too much to ask that this book be able to match it, seeing as how it's full of works that were not published while Kurt was alive.

Alas.

All I really got out of most of this was Kurt's hatred of war, in all forms and at all times. The quality work here is seriously uneven. All that holds true is the passionate anti-war message as flow through.

I'm really not sure if all the work contained in this anthology was of a quality meriting publication. I love Kurt too much to say that it wasn't, but I can't say this is among my favorite works of his. I guess even Kurt wasn't always on top of his game.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Excellent for fans and new readers alike!

Kurt Vonnegut's novels are among my favorite, which led me to question whether his essays and short stories would be as good. The 2008 publication was the first posthumous collection and has a pretty funny introduction by Kurt's son Mark Vonnegut. The book itself contains 13 stories and essays about War and Peace, two of Vonnegut's most common themes.

The stories contained a lot of autobiographical information. Each story had a character or two whose experience was more directly based on Kurt's life than the characters often found in his novels. Some of the most vivid tales were about the firebombing in Dresden, an experience Kurt drew from extensively in his writing. Few could portray the horrors of war and then make a joke about it to lighten the mood as well as Kurt Vonnegut. Every story has its gruesome parts and each made me grab my gut laughing at one point or another.

I would not only recommend this book to Kurt Vonnegut fans, but to first time Vonnegut readers. The stories in this collection might introduce new readers to his level of sarcasm so they can enjoy stories like Galapagos and Deadeye Dick.

Bookophile Rating: 91%
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Vonnegut is Always Readable

I somehow missed this posthumous collection of war-themed odds and sods short stories and essays by Kurt Vonnegut when it was first published, but I'm glad that I stumbled across it recently because it has much to enjoy and to think about. As any Vonnegut reader knows, surviving the firebombing of Dresden as a German prisoner of war was a seminal event in his life and many of these stories and essays reference the event either directly or indirectly. Some of these stories seem not fully formed but I found something of interest in each. Vonnegut's essential humanity glows throughout the book and his pessimism is leavened with his belief in human's fundamental goodness despite their foibles.
Recommended reading for those who have already read Vonnegut's major works.
✓ Verified Purchase

Five Stars

Iconic SF
✓ Verified Purchase

Five Stars

Love Vonnegut
✓ Verified Purchase

Two Stars

Not as good as every other Vonnegut book. He didn't publish these notes/stories for a reason.