A Man Without a Country - by Kurt Vonnegut

Book Synopsis

The last of the canonical Kurt Vonnegut books, A Man Without a Country spent eight weeks on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list, selling over a quarter-million copies

This 20th anniversary edition features a new introduction by Lewis Black.

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

"The America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."-Kurt Vonnegut, from A Man Without a Country

The closest Kurt Vonnegut ever came to writing his autobiography, A Man Without a Country is part memoir, part social and political commentary, and part riveting personal conversation with an old friend. An undeniably moving and unique return of the literary grandmaster to form.

A Man Without a Country features Vonnegut's coming of age, his war experiences, his life as an artist, and the hilariously funny and razor-sharp way of understanding things that helped him get through it all.

Some Vonnegut jewels in A Man without a Country

• "If I die--God forbid--I would like to go to heaven to ask somebody in charge up there, 'Hey, what was the good news and what was the bad news?"
• "To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it."
• "I asked former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton what he thought of our great victory over Iraq and he said, 'Mohammed Ali versus Mr. Rogers.'"
• And finally, on the subject of the condition of the soul of America today: "What has happened to us?"

Plentifully illustrated with the author's signature woodcut aphorisms, which appear in the book in blue, A Man Without a Country is possibly Vonnegut's most intimate book, and certainly one of his best.

Review Quotes

"During the darkest years of the Bush administration, these essays ... were guide and serum to anyone with a feeling that pretty much everyone had lost their minds." --Dave Eggers

"[L]ike his literary ancestor Mark Twain, his crankiness is good-humored and sharp-witted, and aimed at well-defended soft spots of hypocrisy and arrogance ... On Nov. 11--the holiday Vonnegut, who was a P.O.W. in Germany in World War II, has always preferred to think of as Armistice Day--he will turn 83, and since he has no expectation of a heavenly perch from which to look down and eavesdrop on his friends, it is best that we appreciate him while he's still around. A Man Without a Country' is a fine place to start, especially since it can lead us back to Mother Night and Slaughterhouse-Five and The Sirens of Titan and the stories collected in Bagombo Snuff Box. In other words, it's like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend." --The New York Times Book Review

"Although A Man Without a Country has its roots in ... essays and public statements, it is, at heart, a different type of project, fuller, more integrated, not a collection of loose ends so much as a testament ... Certainly, A Man Without a Country is as overtly political a book as Vonnegut has written, a lament for an America that is no longer, in which, the author argues, social justice has been subsumed by war and fear. At the same time, it may be as close as Vonnegut ever comes to a memoir, with its mix of autobiography and social commentary, its reflections on topics as varied as our fossil fuel addiction and longtime heroes like Twain and labor and political leader Eugene V. Debs." --Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Born in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, KURT VONNEGUT was one of the few grandmasters of modern American letters. Called by the New York Times "the counterculture's novelist," his works guided a generation through the miasma of war and greed that was life in the U.S. in second half of the 20th century. After stints as a soldier, anthropology PhD candidate, technical writer for General Electric, and salesman at a Saab dealership, Vonnegut rose to prominence with the publication of Cat's Cradle in 1963. Several modern classics, including Slaughterhouse-Five, soon followed. Never quite embraced by the stodgier arbiters of literary taste, Vonnegut was nonetheless beloved by millions of readers throughout the world. "Given who and what I am," he once said, "it has been presumptuous of me to write so well." Kurt Vonnegut died in New York in 2007.

LEWIS BLACK is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He hosted a Comedy Central series and made regular appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. When not on the road performing, he resides in Manhattan and also maintains a residence in Chapel Hill, N.C. He served as board chair for the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.