Imperial

Be advised: This is a book of photography, not a novel. That being said, I think it is still an excellent addition to your library. Vollmann continues to depict the reality around him in haunting details, if not with words then with pictures. Imperial is more like a window into the lives of people we hear about but seldom have contact with or have any knowledge regarding their lives and daily struggles.

William Vollmann has been reporting on the interface of the underclass with popular American culture for over twenty years. Since collaborating with Ken Miller on a book of photographs, a number of Vollmann's documentary books, including "Rising up and Rising Down," "Poor People," and "Riding to Everywhere" have included his own photographs of persons encountered in the texts. Vollmann's latest work, "Imperial," seems to have exacted the most effort of his documentaries, being at least ten years in the making. Apparently, the number of photos he wanted to include with his work exceeded the resources of Viking Penguin. Hence this coffee-table book from powerHouse Books.Vollmann's documentary photos are published as 8x10s in black and white, as (approximately) 11x14s in sepia, or as landscape formats of various dimensions printed across two-page spreads. Apart from seven pages at the end, there is no commentary because the Viking Penguin book of the same title has the relevant text.Some may find this collection of (mostly) posed portraits technically limited. I would not disagree. However, within those limits something eloquent can be found in virtually every page opening. To mention a few of this collection's striking moments at random: the way the shadow falls across the face of the border patrol cop on page 7; the portrait on page 11 in which the man and his cap encapsulate the closeness and distance between haves and have-nots; the contrasting mothers on facing pages 84/85; the similarity of character and visage between the ranch owners on facing pages 154/155.Vollmann's chief subject is the human condition, and his chief interest as a photographer is capturing what people both present and inadvertently manifest to the unhidden camera. Thus the subtleties in these pictures spring from the undisguised and unpredictable way their willing subjects relate to the camera's eye. In this sense the photographic medium constantly announces itself throughout the collection. Here the camera is no voyeur. The trade-off is a lack of (apparently) unselfconscious moments, which have their own telling power. For those, however, one can view the work of almost any other documentary photographer.Can this collection stand on its own apart from the text it accompanies? Clearly, the publisher believes so. They have produced a handsome, well edited volume that can without apology continue a lineage extending through "Forgotten Village" and "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" back to (at least) "People of the Abyss." One doesn't need the companion prose to enjoy Vollmann's pleasure and belief in the power of the artifact and his empathetic witness to and celebration of people and environments seldom encountered by us book readers.

I love this book. Vollman's take on California History is captivating. The images it conjours up are so vivid and the ideas are so well-crafted and nuanced. Anyone with any interest in Southern California history, politics or land use policy would be well served by getting the message. Fascinating read.

Thanks.

A reality check about the plight if migrant workers, the reality of life near lá linea, the border, and an environmental statement as well. Exhaustively researched. Vollman: mad or genius? Does it matter?

This pictorial farce is a slap in the face to Imperial. The other book on Imperial was so horrible, if I were Imperial County I would sue Vollman for defamation of character. There is so much more positive things, people, places in Imperial that Mr. Negative Vollman obviously missed. What a waste of good money!

I was assigned this book for a class and I have to say this is probably one of the worst books I have ever read. The only reason I gave it two stars and didn't label it a complete waste of time is because there are about 4 chapters that are actually informational and worth reading. Unfortunately, a good amount of this book seems to be the author detailing his own personal experiences going on at the time he was writing the book. For example, his break up with a girlfriend and escapades with prostitutes and drug addicts. Worst of all, he will go on and on about how he tried to find out information about something, but in the end he didn't really find out anything groundbreaking and you realize you just read forty pages for absolutely no reason. Another annoying habit he had was imagining what some of the pioneer's lives might have been like instead of writing down what their lives were actually like.Another sad aspect about this book is that I am from the Imperial Valley, I currently live here, and considering this book is so big he completely ignores the part of society that I can only lump together as the middle class. He talks about the experiences of Border Patrol, farmers, and field workers, but nothing about the people who work at schools, colleges, hospitals, and two correctional facilities just to name a few. Plus, he also considers Mexicali, Mexico all the way to Indio, CA as the same place. That is a pretty big generalization to make considering the amount of time he spent here. He paints this picture of the area as rich farmers and field workers only and that is simply not the case. Additionally, Mexicali is a huge city, but it seems like he spent a lot of his time on the first two streets when entering Mexico and the way he portrays Mexicali shows it. Mexicali is more than strip clubs and bars.If this book had left out a lot of his life's experiences and was edited to be purely the aspects of the book that are informational, I might recommend it. However, I still feel he could have done a much better job of portraying the Imperial and Mexicali Valleys rather than writing about himself as much as he did.

I've read part of the e-book. I liked it a lot and that's why I decided to buy the paperback. Unfortunately the book came to me in very bad conditions. The cover and the spine are mistreated. And the back cover was scratched. It was not during the shipment since the other book I ordered came intact.

Absolute steal at £10.

This is the companion to the book "Imperial" also by William Vollmann. Photos taken by the author while researching and writing his great novel about the southern border county in California that is the epicenter of traffic between the US and Mexico. The pictures breath life into the story that Vollmann weaves in retelling the history of this semi arid region turned into a agricultural giant by the sweat of migrant workers.A great book.