{"product_id":"we-are-what-we-pretend-to-be","title":"We Are What We Pretend To Be","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eCalled “our finest black-humorist” by \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e,  Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most influential writers of the 20th  century. Now his first and last works come together for the first time  in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, \u003ci\u003eWe Are What We Pretend To Be\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten to be sold under the pseudonym of “Mark Harvey,” \u003ci\u003eBasic Training\u003c\/i\u003e  was never published in Vonnegut’s lifetime. It appears to have been  written in the late 1940s and is therefore Vonnegut’s first ever  novella. It is a bitter, profoundly disenchanted story that satirizes  the military, authoritarianism, gender relationships, parenthood and  most of the assumed mid-century myths of the family. Haley Brandon, the  adolescent protagonist, comes to the farm of his relative, the old crazy  who insists upon being called The General, to learn to be a  straight-shooting American. Haley’s only means of survival will lead him  to unflagging defiance of the General’s deranged (but oh so American,  oh so military) values. This story and its thirtyish author were no  friends of the milieu to which the slick magazines’ advertisers were  pitching their products.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Vonnegut passed away in 2007, he left his last novel unfinished. Entitled \u003ci\u003eIf God Were Alive Today\u003c\/i\u003e,  this last work is a brutal satire on societal ignorance and carefree  denial of the world’s major problems. Protagonist Gil Berman is a  middle-aged college lecturer and self-declared stand-up comedian who  enjoys cracking jokes in front of a college audience while societal  dependence on fossil fuels has led to the apocalypse. Described by  Vonnegut as, “the stand-up comedian on Doomsday,” Gil is a character  formed from Vonnegut’s own rich experiences living in a reality Vonnegut  himself considered inevitable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAlong with the two works of fiction, Vonnegut’s daughter, Nanette shares reminiscences about her father and commentary on these two works—both exclusive to this edition.\u003c\/p\u003eIn this fiction collection, published in print for the  first time, exist Vonnegut’s grand themes: trust no one, trust nothing;  and the only constants are absurdity and resignation, which themselves  cannot protect us from the void but might divert.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vanguard Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41514423517362,"sku":"9780306822780","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0536\/7418\/0786\/files\/O_93829d6d-c75f-4cf4-bf49-1ed0acf0b3c0.jpg?v=1771585224","url":"https:\/\/shop.hachettebookgroup.com\/products\/we-are-what-we-pretend-to-be","provider":"Hachette Book Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}