{"product_id":"if-this-isnt-nice-what-is-even-more-expanded-third-edition-the-graduation-speeches-and-other-words-to-live-by-9781609806101","title":"If This Isn't Nice, What Is? (Even More) Expanded Third Edition: The Graduation Speeches and Other Words to Live by","description":"For this first-ever paperback edition of \u003ci\u003eIf This Isn't Nice, What Is?\u003c\/i\u003e, the beloved collection of Kurt Vonnegut's campus speeches, editor Dan Wakefield has unearthed three early gems as a sort of prequel--the anti-war Moratorium Day speech he gave in Barnstable, Massachusetts, in October 1969, a 1970 speech to Bennington College recommending \"skylarking,\" and a 1974 speech to Hobart and William Smith Colleges about the importance of extended families in an age of loneliness. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVonnegut himself never graduated college, so his words of admonition, advice, and hilarity always carried the delight, gentle irony, and generosity of someone savoring the promise of his fellow citizens--especially the young--rather than his own achievements. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Selected and introduced by fellow novelist and friend Dan Wakefield, the speeches in \u003ci\u003eIf This Isn't Nice, What Is? \u003c\/i\u003ecomprise the first and only book of Vonnegut's speeches. There are fourteen speeches, eleven given at colleges, one to the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, one on the occasion of Vonnegut receiving the Carl Sandburg Award, and now the anti-war speech he gave just months after the publication of \u003ci\u003eSlaughterhouse-Five\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as from related short personal essays--eighteen chapters in all. In each of these, Vonnegut takes pains to find the few things worth saying and a conversational voice to say them in that isn't heavy-handed or pretentious or glib, but funny, joyful, and serious too, even if sometimes without seeming so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kurt Vonnegut\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Seven Stories Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/31\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.60h x 5.40w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781609806101\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn in 1922 in Indianapolis, Indiana, \u003cb\u003eKURT VONNEGUT \u003c\/b\u003ewas one of the few grandmasters of modern American letters. Called by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \"the counterculture's novelist,\" his works guided a generation through the miasma of war and greed that was life in the U.S. in second half of the 20th century. After a stints as a soldier, anthropology PhD candidate, technical writer for General Electric, and salesman at a Saab dealership, Vonnegut rose to prominence with the publication of\u003ci\u003eCat's Cradle \u003c\/i\u003ein 1963. Several modern classics, including \u003ci\u003eSlaughterhouse-Five\u003c\/i\u003e, soon followed. Never quite embraced by the stodgier arbiters of literary taste, Vonnegut was nonetheless beloved by millions of readers throughout the world. \"Given who and what I am,\" he once said, \"it has been presumptuous of me to write so well.\" Kurt Vonnegut died in New York in 2007. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA longtime friend of Kurt Vonnegut's, \u003cb\u003eDAN WAKEFIELD\u003c\/b\u003e is co-editor with Jerome Klinkowitz of Vonnegut's \u003ci\u003eComplete Stories\u003c\/i\u003e, which the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ecalled \"a fascinating portrait-of-the-artist-on-the-make in the booming 1950s.\" Wakefield also edited and introduced \u003ci\u003eKurt Vonnegut: Letters\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of the memoirs \u003ci\u003eNew York in the Fifties \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eReturning: A Spiritual Journey.\u003c\/i\u003e His novel \u003ci\u003eGoing All the Way\u003c\/i\u003e was made into a movie starring Ben Affleck. Dan Wakefield also created the NBC prime time series \u003ci\u003eJames at Fifteen\u003c\/i\u003e. He is currently at work on a YA biography of Kurt Vonnegut for Seven Stories. He lives in Indianapolis, Indiana\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Seven Stories Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":39827623477363,"sku":"9781609806101","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_ec3154d9-9a90-4dd2-bd61-3a522acb7fdf.jpg?v=1644573253","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/if-this-isnt-nice-what-is-even-more-expanded-third-edition-the-graduation-speeches-and-other-words-to-live-by-9781609806101","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}