"Slaughterhouse-five" (Bloom's Guides) - Hardcover

Captured by Germans after World War II's Battle of the Bulge, soldier Kurt Vonnegut and other POWs were taken to Dresden, where they were confined in a cement shed used for butchering livestock: "Schlachthof-funf," "Slaughterhouse-Five." Several weeks later, American and British planes firebombed Dresden, killing 135,000 civilians and leveling the city. Amazingly, the POWs survived, by taking cover in an underground meat locker. Vonnegut spent two decades coming to grips with the experience; he dealt with it openly at last in his novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969). Sampling key critical perspectives on this frequently banned work, this "Bloom's Guide" also provides insightful information about the author, the book's characters, and an annotated bibliography that serves as an ideal jumping-off point for further study.