A Man Without a Country - by Kurt Vonnegut

About the Book

Gleaned from short essays and speeches composed over the last five years and plentifully illustrated with artwork by the author throughout, "Only Kidding" delivers Vonnegut both speaking out with indignation and writing tenderly to his fellow Americans.

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations . . . this is what he is like in person."-USA Today

In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this age-or any age-holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of America's soul. From his coming of age in America, to his formative war experiences, to his life as an artist, this is Vonnegut doing what he does best: Being himself. Whimsically illustrated by the author, A Man Without a Country is intimate, tender, and brimming with the scope of Kurt Vonnegut's passions.

Praise for A Man Without a Country

"[This] may be as close as Vonnegut ever comes to a memoir."-Los Angeles Times

"Like [that of] his literary ancestor Mark Twain, [Kurt Vonnegut's] crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted. . . . [Reading A Man Without a Country is] like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend."-The New York Times Book Review

"Filled with [Vonnegut's] usual contradictory mix of joy and sorrow, hope and despair, humor and gravity."-Chicago Tribune

"Fans will linger on every word . . . as once again [Vonnegut] captures the complexity of the human condition with stunning calligraphic simplicity."-The Australian

"Thank God, Kurt Vonnegut has broken his promise that he will never write another book. In this wondrous assemblage of mini-memoirs, we discover his family's legacy and his obstinate, unfashionable humanism."-Studs Terkel

Review Quotes

"For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations . . . this is what he is like in person."-USA Today

"[This] may be as close as Vonnegut ever comes to a memoir."-Los Angeles Times

"Like [that of] his literary ancestor Mark Twain, [Kurt Vonnegut's] crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted. . . . [Reading A Man Without a Country is] like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend."-The New York Times Book Review

"Filled with [Vonnegut's] usual contradictory mix of joy and sorrow, hope and despair, humor and gravity."-Chicago Tribune

"Fans will linger on every word . . . as once again [Vonnegut] captures the complexity of the human condition with stunning calligraphic simplicity."-The Australian

"Thank God, Kurt Vonnegut has broken his promise that he will never write another book. In this wondrous assemblage of mini-memoirs, we discover his family's legacy and his obstinate, unfashionable humanism."-Studs Terkel

"This book is nothing if not a big shot in the arm of concentrated hope."--The Sycamore Review

"No other American humorist see-saws from gravity to gobbledygook this effectively, in part because for Vonnegut the two are always connected. Life for him is deadly serious, bu the best way to deal with fear is to laugh in its face."--The Jerusalem Post

About the Author

Kurt Vonnegut's humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America's attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as "a true artist" (The New York Times) with 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.