And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life

The first authoritative and authorized biography of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a writer who changed the conversation of American literature In 2006, Charles Shields reached out to Kurt Vonnegut in a letter, asking for his endorsement for a planned biography. The first response was no ("A most respectful demurring by me for the excellent writer Charles J. Shields, who offered to be my biographer"). Unwilling to take no for an answer, propelled by a passion for his subject, and already deep into his research, Shields wrote again and this time, to his delight, the answer came back: "O.K." For the next yeara year that ended up being Vonnegut's lastShields had access to Vonnegut and his letters And So It Goesis the culmination of five years of research and writingthe first-ever biography of the life of Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut resonates with readers of all generations from the baby boomers who grew up with him to high-school and college students who are discovering his work for the first time. Vonnegut's concise collection of personal essays, Man Without a Country, published in 2006, spent fifteen weeks on the New York Timesbestseller list and has sold more than 300,000 copies to date. The twenty-first century has seen interest in and scholarship about Vonnegut's works grow even stronger, and this is the first book to examine in full the life of one of the most influential iconoclasts of his time.Shields, Charles J. is the author of 'And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life', published 2011 under ISBN 9780805086935 and ISBN 0805086935.