If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young

Master storyteller and satirist Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most in-demand commencement speakers of his time. For each occasion, Vonnegut€s words were unfailingly unique, insightful, and witty, and they stayed with audience members long after graduation.

As edited by Dan Wakefield, this book reads like a narrative in the unique voice that made Vonnegut a hero to readers of all ages. At times hilarious, razor-sharp, freewheeling, and deeply serious, these reflections are ideal for anyone undergoing what Vonnegut would call their €œlong-delayed puberty ceremony€€"marking the passage from student to full-time adult.

This book makes the perfect gift for high school or college graduates€"or for parents and grandparents who remember Vonnegut fondly and want to connect with him in a new context.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kurt Vonnegut is a unique voice in the American canon€"a writer whose works are hard to categorize, often straddling the space between literature and science fiction, and filled with cutting satire and dark humor. Like Mark Twain before him, Vonnegut's reputation and impact on American writing and reading will continue to grow steadily and increase in relevance as new insights are made.

Vonnegut was born in 1922 in Indianapolis, and studied at the University of Chicago and the University of Tennessee. In the Second World War, he became a German prisoner of war and was present during the bombing of Dresden. This experience provided inspiration for his most successful and influential novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. Vonnegut€"admired as much for his views and his €œVonnegutisms€ as for his publications€"wrote extensively in many forms, including novels, short stories, essays, plays, articles, speeches, and correspondence, some of which was published posthumously.

ABOUT DAN WAKEFIELD

A lifelong friend of Kurt Vonnegut€s, Dan Wakefield both edited and wrote the Introduction to the bestselling collection of Vonnegut€s personal correspondence, Kurt Vonnegut: Letters. In addition, Wakefield is the author of the memoir New York in the Fifties, which was made into a documentary film, as well as Returning: A Spiritual Journey. He created the NBC prime time series €œJames at Fifteen€ and wrote the script for the movie based on his novel Going All The Way, starring Ben Affleck.