Kurt Vonnegut was born to German-American parents in Indianapolis. His family was initially fairly wealthy, but lost a great deal of their money in the Great Depression. Vonnegut began college at Cornell University, where he studied biochemistry and served as an editor at the student newspaper. After being placed on academic probation and then dropping out, Vonnegut enlisted in the army in 1943. Shortly after, his mother killed herself. While fighting in World War II, Vonnegut was captured by German forces and incarcerated as a prisoner of war in Dresden. Back in the U.S., Vonnegut married Jane Marie Cox and enrolled at the University of Chicago on the G.I. Bill. He studied anthropology, although he never officially graduated. He briefly worked at General Electric before deciding to become a full-time writer. He published his first novel,
Player Piano, in 1952. Following this, Vonnegut struggled to earn enough money to support his family, which now consisted of six children—three of whom were his nephews, whom he adopted after the death of his sister. During this time, Vonnegut wrote
The Sirens of Titan. Although he kept publishing novels his financial struggles led him to almost quit writing; yet thanks to gaining a job at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop he managed to keep going. In 1969, Vonnegut published his most famous novel,
Slaughterhouse-Five, which was inspired by his experience as a P.O.W. in Dresden. Following this, he continued writing but struggled with mental health problems, writer’s block, and divorce. In 1979 he remarried, and adopted another child with his new wife. Vonnegut died in 2007 at the age of 84.