Kurt Vonnegut was born to German parents in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was raised there with two older siblings, Bernard and Alice. Bernard went on to become a scientist, and Alice was an artist and mother who died of cancer at 40. Vonnegut attended Cornell University intending to become a scientist but was expelled for academic failure and an article he published in Cornell’s newspaper, which contained his trademark satirical style that would one day garner him fame. After joining the army, just before he was deployed overseas in 1944, Vonnegut’s mother died by suicide, citing social discontent and the thought of losing her son in the war. Vonnegut and his wife had three children together, one of whom he named after his mother, and they also adopted his sister’s children after she died.

Vonnegut is perhaps best known for Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), a novel about the cruelty of war and the subsequent psychological trauma many endure, personified in his character of Billy Pilgrim. His use of humor and science fiction genres to comment on social and political issues are trademarks of his style.