A book of its time.

While reading Kurt Vonnegut's novel Galapagos, I was surprised by how current the book is. Rather, I should say that the novel is definitely grounded in the 1980s. The fiction is not too far from the contemporaneous facts. One of the first things I was the economic crisis...of the world. The 1980s are often remembered as a time of prosperity, but some countries, in Argentina I believe as well as most of South America (I only know this through foreign film), there was a economic crisis. I may be incorrect, but I also believe many currencies were finished, and new ones introduced. I discovered this while trying to determine the value of some South American bills in my possession. Apparently inflation was high, and new currencies were issued, tagging the value at lower numbers per U.S. dollar. Secondly, I noticed the presence of Japan in the novel. The idea of Japan as a rising power to sit on America's left hand, if not dethrone America, was common in the 1908s. Simply watch American Psycho (takes place in 1989) in which a character discussed this philosophy shortly before the film ends. Indeed, the fact that the list of protagonists noted by the narrator were Japanese and Americans reminded me of how Japan was regarded in the 80s. It was an upcoming nation brimming with talent, determination, and wealth...and then the Asian finical crisis happened. Thirdly, there exists the topic of a disease that eradicates fertility in humans. Well, AIDS was a very big deal in the 1980s, in fact my parents remember the live broadcast by president Reagan about AIDS. It was a big deal in the 1980s, and relatively new on the scene of dangers threatening humanity. In the end, my point is that the sense of apocalypse in this book is based on a actual sensation felt by people twenty to thirty years ago. AIDS was scary and new, South America was in financial jeopardy, and the West felt threatened by the East.