Never read any of his books but he spoke marvellously on 1 Giant Leap about life and music. 

His most famous book, Slaughterhouse 5, was based on his war experience of being a prisoner in Dresden on the night in 1945 when Allied bombing raids
flattened the city, creating a firestorm that killed an estimated
35,000 citizens in two hours.

Vonnegut and his fellow prisoners were saved by their incarceration in a cold meat locker three storeys beneath ground.  They escaped to scenes of carnage and devastation.