God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; or Pearls before Swine

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; or Pearls before Swine, novel by Vonnegut, published in 1965.

In a free‐form text the history of the Rosewater family is traced from two brothers of the Civil War era: Noah, who hired a substitute to fight while he made money manufacturing armaments, and George, blinded in battle and dispossessed by his brother. Noah's descendants include Senator Lister Ames Rosewater, creator of the Rosewater Foundation, managed by his son Eliot, who by accident during World War II had killed members of a volunteer fire department and ever thereafter gives Foundation funds to volunteer firefighters or down‐and‐outers in general. George's descendants include Fred, an insurance salesman who leads a middle‐class life of desperation. The two branches of the family are united only by a lawsuit fomented by Norman Mushari, counsel for the Foundation, who attempts to prove Eliot insane so as to benefit himself and, incidentally, Fred too. The basic case is sidetracked when 57 separate paternity suits are brought against Eliot, who acknowledges all 57 children and arranges for each to become seriatim the president of the Rosewater Foundation.