When I was growing up, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was the closest thing I had to a paternal mentor, the only authoritative voice I consistently trusted. Novel after freakish, scattershot, infinitely humane novel, the man provided tools to identify and cope with the daily horrors of America -- this vast sea of garbage exploited by rotten-hearted men. (Doubt my definition? Work for an entertainment executive sometime.) Vonnegut scrawled clever maps to aid in navigating around storms and past pirates. For these I am sincerely grateful, and sales indicate that I'm not alone in my... More >>>