Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. Over a career spanning more than fifty years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut attended Cornell University but left to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He survived the Allied bombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience that heavily influenced his writing.

Vonnegut's first novel, Player Piano (1952), received positive reviews, and his breakthrough work, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), became a bestseller, resonating with its anti-war sentiment amid the Vietnam War. Vonnegut's writing was characterized by his darkly humorous commentary on American society and human nature. He was an honorary president of the American Humanist Association, known for his humanistic beliefs.

Later in his career, Vonnegut published autobiographical essays and short-story collections, including Fates Worse Than Death (1991) and A Man Without a Country (2005). His son, Mark, published a compilation of his work, Armageddon in Retrospect, posthumously in 2008.