Cat's Cradle

Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s razor-sharp satire of modern humanity and its talent for self-destruction. Framed as an inquiry into the legacy of a scientist involved in the creation of the atomic bomb, the novel spirals into an apocalyptic vision of the world’s end—both absurd and chillingly plausible.

Along the way, Vonnegut introduces an unforgettable cast of characters: a diminutive yet determined narrator, a calypso-singing prophet who invents an entirely new religion, and a society teetering between faith and folly. Darkly comic and startlingly fatalistic, Cat’s Cradle blends science, belief, and human vanity into a story that is as hilarious as it is devastating.

A defining novel of the twentieth century, it remains one of Vonnegut’s most influential and accomplished works.