“Slaughterhouse-Five” champions peace and endures censorship

Burned, banned, and challenged in numerous U.S. states, Slaughterhouse-Five: Or, the Children’s Crusade, a Duty-Dance with Death is both a powerful anti-war protest piece and an exceptional work of satirical science fiction. Author Kurt Vonnegut introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, the novel’s star-crossed protagonist, time traveler, and optometrist. This classic’s approachable narrative leads the reader along Pilgrim’s varied and time-bending journeys.

Pilgrim, the anti-hero, intermittently suffers and survives the atrocities of World War II (specifically the Allied fire bombings of Dresden, which killed more people than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima), gets abducted by telepathic aliens, and meanders his way through his physical, grounded life in a state of nonchalance and malaise. This novel hits the mark for fans of satire and proponents of peace.

Listed by the American Library Association as one of the most-challenged books of the 1990s, Slaughterhouse-Five has been cited for “containing foul language [and] promoting deviant sexual behavior,” called “vulgar and offensive,” and considered “dangerous” because of violent, irreverent, profane, and sexually explicit content. It is absurd, of course, to imagine a war in which soldiers don’t curse or a world devoid of sexuality. What censors don’t realize, sadly, is that this book centers on the human condition, hope, and the possibility for change.