Jailbird - by Kurt Vonnegut (Paperback)

About the Book

A master of contemporary American literature, Vonnegut has authored 18 highly acclaimed books and dozens of short stories and essays. This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least known co-conspirator.

Book Synopsis

"[Kurt Vonnegut] has never been more satirically on-target. . . . Nothing is spared."--People

Jailbird takes us into a fractured and comic, pure Vonnegut world of high crimes and misdemeanors in government--and in the heart. This wry tale follows bumbling bureaucrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least known co-conspirator. But the humor turns dark when Vonnegut shines his spotlight on the cold hearts and calculated greed of the mighty, giving a razor-sharp edge to an unforgettable portrait of power and politics in our times.

Praise for Jailbird

"[Vonnegut] is our strongest writer . . . the most stubbornly imaginative."--John Irving

"A gem . . . a mature, imaginative novel--possibly the best he has written . . . Jailbird is a guided tour de force of America. Take it!"--Playboy

"A profoundly humane comedy . . . Jailbird definitely mounts up on angelic wings--in its speed, in its sparkle, and in its high-flying intent."--Chicago Tribune Book World

"Joyously inventive . . . gleams with the loony magic Vonnegut alone can achieve."--Cosmopolitan

"Vonnegut is our great apocalyptic writer, the closest thing we've had to a prophet since . . . Lenny Bruce."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Vonnegut at his impressive best. . . . His imaginative leaps alone . . . are worth the price of admission. . . . His far-reaching metaphysical and cultural concerns . . . are ultimately serious and worth our contemplation."--The Washington Post

Review Quotes

"[Kurt Vonnegut] has never been more satirically on-target. . . . Nothing is spared."--People

"Our strongest writer . . . the most stubbornly imaginative."--John Irving

"A gem . . . a mature, imaginative novel--possibly the best he has written . . . Jailbird is a guided tour de force of America. Take it!"--Playboy

"A profoundly humane comedy . . . Jailbird definitely mounts up on angelic wings--in its speed, in its sparkle, and in its high-flying intent."--Chicago Tribune Book World

"Joyously inventive . . . gleams with the loony magic Vonnegut alone can achieve."--Cosmopolitan

"Vonnegut is our great apocalyptic writer, the closest thing we've had to a prophet since . . . Lenny Bruce."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Vonnegut at his impressive best. . . . His imaginative leaps alone . . . are worth the price of admission. . . . His far-reaching metaphysical and cultural concerns . . . are ultimately serious and worth our contemplation."--The Washington Post

"Vintage Vonnegut!"--Time

"Is it entertaining? Every page of it. . . . Easily his best work of fictions since Slaughterhouse-Five."--New York Daily News

"Life, in Vonnegut's eyes, is as chaotic as ever . . . but Jailbird emanates serene control."--The Atlantic Monthly

"At his best . . . Vonnegut in very good form, tart, wry, often very funny."--New York 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.