Kurt Vonnegut Dies

**eddierox** · 04-12-2007, 10:41 AM

Vonnegut, regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died Wednesday at 84.

http://www.comcast.net/news/index.js...12/634704.html

He was a man who combined a wicked sense of humor and sort of steady moral compass, who was always sort of looking at the big picture of the things that were most important," said Joel Bleifuss, editor of In These Times, a liberal magazine based in Chicago that featured Vonnegut articles.

Some of Vonnegut's books were banned and burned for alleged obscenity. He took on censorship as an active member of the PEN writers' aid group and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The American Humanist Association, which promotes individual freedom, rational thought and scientific skepticism, made him its honorary president.

Vonnegut said the villains in his books were never individuals, but culture, society and history, which he said were making a mess of the planet.