Captured by Germans after World War II's Battle of the Bulge, soldier Kurt Vonnegut and other POWs were taken to Dresden, where they were confined in a cement shed used for butchering livestock: "Schlachthof-funf," "Slaughterhouse-Five." Several weeks later, American and British planes firebombed Dresden, killing 135,000 civilians and leveling the city. Amazingly, the POWs survived, by taking cover in an underground meat locker. Vonnegut spent two decades coming to grips with the experience; he dealt with it openly at last in his novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1969). Sampling key critical perspectives on this frequently banned work, this "Bloom's Guide" also provides insightful information about the author, the book's characters, and an annotated bibliography that serves as an ideal jumping-off point for further study.

 

This book is part of a book series called Blooms Guides .

This book is aimed at children in secondary school.

There are 114 pages in this book. This book was published 2006 by Chelsea House Publishers .

Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University.