A labor of seventeen years, Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down is a gravely urgent invitation to look back at the world's long, bloody path and find some threads of meaning, wisdom, and guidance with which to plot a moral course. From the street violence of prostitutes and junkies to the centuries-long battle between the Native Americans and European colonists,Vollmann's mesmerizing imagery and compelling logic is presented with authority born of astounding research and personal experience.
Rising Up and Rising Down includes a series of interviews, photographs, United Nations "situation maps," illustrations, pamphlets, and newspaper clippings. The book, 3,298 pages long, is published as seven hardcover volumes released simultaneously in a burgundy, cloth-covered box with gold-foil detail.
