"Slaughterhouse-Five" is a science fiction-infused anti-war novel about the World War II experiences and journeys through time of Billy Pilgrim, from his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant, to postwar and early years. A central event is Pilgrim's surviving the Allies' firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner-of-war, an event in Vonnegut's own life, and the novel is considered semi-autobiographical.