Kurt Vonnegut, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five, provided a powerful first-hand account describing the horrific events of World War II. Vonnegut recounted the events and wrote about himself through the protagonists of the novel, Billy Pilgrim. He was pessimistic about the novel because he wrote, “It is so short and confusing and jarring, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre” (Vonnegut 22). However, on the other hand, critics considered it "one of the greatest anti-war books in the world" (Vonnegut Back cover). The controversial novel was published in 1969, more than two decades after World War II. The time it took Vonnegut to write the novel is an indication of how difficult it was for him to write about the attacks. Vonnegut does not write the novel to portray the narrator as “John Wayne or some of those other dirty, charming, war-loving old men” (Vonnegut 14). Instead, he writes about the real chaos that the narrator had to endure during his time in Dresden. Vonnegut's novel consisted of events that reflected major social and political movements, such as the civil rights movements and anti-war movements, in the United States during the 1960s. One of the most significant social movements during the 1960s was the civil rights movement, a coalition led by many who expressed strong opposition to the war in Vietnam. Martin Luther King Jr was a great voice for civil liberties and, according to critic Mark Barringer, "Martin Luther King Jr openly expressed support for the anti-war movement on moral grounds... stating that the war was draining much-needed resources from national programs" (Barringer 3). Martin Luther King Jr had a profound effect on the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was eventually murdered for his bill...... middle of paper ...... during World War II in his experiences in Dresden. Vonnegut's writing is unique because "the narrator offers a very different kind of war story, combining fact and fiction" (Jarvis 98). With the combination of fact and fiction, Vonnegut successfully linked the events of World War II to the political references and social conflicts during the Vietnam War. Works Cited Barringer, Mark, Tom Wells. "The Anti-War Movement in the United States." www.english.illinois.edu. Oxford UP. 1999. Network. November 14, 2013. Jarvis, Christina. "The Vietnamization of World War II in Slaughterhouse-Five and Gravity's Rainbow." www.wlajournal.com. War, literature and art. 95-117. Network. November 15, 2013. Vitale, Tom. “Kurt Vonnegut: Keep Talking to the War-Weary.” www.npr.org. May 31, 2011. Web. November 14, 2013. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. 1969 New York: Dell, 1991. Print.