“Bagombo Snuff Box resurrects Vonnegut’s earliest efforts, stories written during the fifties and sixties for such popular venues as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. In his engagingly autobiographical introduction, Vonnegut describes his stints as a Chicago journalist and PR man for General Electric in Schenectady, New York; his decision to supplement his income by writing; and his rapid success and evolution into a full-time writer. So, here are his literary roots, a set of stories that reflects their era’s eagerness to turn the horrors of war into anecdote and to equate technology with progress. Unabashedly fablelike, they can be either sly or sweet, sentimental or vaudevillian, but all are quietly subversive…Rich in low-key humor and good old-fashioned morality, Vonnegut’s stories are both wily and tender.” —Booklist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface by Peter Reed

Introduction

Thanasphere

Mnemonics

Any Reasonable Offer

The Package

The No-Talent Kid

Poor Little Rich Town

Souvenir

The Cruise of the Jolly Roger

Custom-Made Bride

Ambitious Sophomore

Bagombo Snuff Box

The Powder-Blue Dragon

A Present for Big Saint Nick

Unpaid Consultant

Der Arme Dolmetscher

The Boy Who Hated Girls

This Son of Mine

A Night for Love

Find Me a Dream

Runaways

2BR02B

Lovers Anonymous

Hal Irwin’s Magic Lamp