Customer Reviews

Imperial

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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 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. Professional photographers may dismiss this collection of (mostly) posed portraits. However, I find something eloquent in virtually every page opening. 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 more from the undisguised and unpredictable way they capture their subjects rather than from the way their photographic medium announces itself. To mention a few 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.

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 compassionate witness to and celebration of people and environments seldom encountered by us book readers.

Ah, the Imperial Valley! When I lived in California, I went to the Salton Sea area every Christmas week to go camping and bird watching. It was great going around in beautiful 80-degree weather, looking at the great desert scenery, eating Mexican food and date shakes, looking at date palms and sand dunes and mountains that changed color all day long. To say that I absolutely loved the area is the understatement of the century. So when I found out that a writer I really enjoy reading was writing a book about an area I positively adored, I couldn't wait to read it.

What a disappointment! Everything that pertains to the Imperial valley from the history, to the agriculture, to the lives of the farmers and the Mexican migrants working the fields, to the giant sales pitch at the turn of the 20th century to promote the area and get lots of people to move in and start farming, etc., etc., in that vein, could have been said in around 350 pages tops. Instead, we get an incredibly indulgent 1121 pages that basically repeats itself ad infinitum. It is a series of disconnected vignettes that occupy a lot of page space while basically saying nothing. And in the midst of all of that nothing, there is very little information imparted that you couldn't have guessed at going in. (There are problems working at maquiladoras - duh! The migrant laborers are overworked and exploited - duh!) And, to top it all off, there is absolutely nothing about the "creation" of the Salton Sea - I was hoping to read something about that (the Salton Sea was allegedly created when a project involving the diversion of Colorado River water went amok, causing the overflow to go into the already-existing basin from a long-ago "Salton Sea"). The book is also larded with repeating corny statements (i.e., "I have never been cheated out of a dollar in my life." "Water is here.", and the most annoying of all - "We need have no fear that our lands will not become better and better as the years go by."). I guess these kept getting thrown in so that Mr. Vollmann could make a point at that particular place in the text, but I found them jarring and extremely annoying. And there were lots of other ones like these all through the book.

If you feel like taking it out of the library (by all means, do not buy it!), it is worth skimming through, and you can get some decent information that way. Do not, repeat, DO NOT try reading it from end-to-end unless you are on a real masochism trip (I did, and I now sincerely regret it). That's why I'm giving it 2 stars - because there IS some good information in there, but do skim for it. There are a couple of nice bits. In Chapter 3 "The Water of Life", Mr. Vollmann takes a boat ride along a branch of the Colorado River called the "New River" that has devolved into a filthy, polluted, sewer. There is a drawn-out section about underground tunnels that were "built" by Chinese in Mexicali that is interesting, worth skimming, but too long by far (Chapter 73, "The Chinese Tunnels"). And there is other stuff, but these two items stayed with me. But once you find a good bit, and want to tell someone else about it, take notes - the book does not have an index! This is something I find unforgivable in a book of this scope.

Does it stand on its own? No. This set of photographs is not particular distinguished and doesn't represent anything like an objective view of Imperial. It's an adjunct to Vollmann's massive treatise, also called Imperial. This many photos couldn't be included in that book, hence a second book.

Is it art? Sure, but it's not great art or great photography. The stories do not come out of the images. Many are just blanks. We can fill them in from the writing, but once again this doesn't stand by itself.

If it wasn't William Vollmann, would these images appear in print? Probably not. Black and white images can be artistic, but too many of these are uninspired images. Okay, I can look at the back of the book and get a caption for them, then link them to the narrative in Imperial, but they don't add that much.

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.

If you are a historian or a genealogist this book is cock full of very interesting information. El Centro, Sealey, holtville, Brawley,and the pan American Canal building are just a few of the images portrayed. Worth the read.

As a resident of Imperial County for 15 years, and considering the 100+ books that I purchased and read in 2010, this book ranks as the worst. I actually had to "force" myself to complete it. In my humble opinion, its content and writing style is a lot of wasted words, paper, and my money.

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'm a third generation native of The Valley and I thought it wasn't in any way representative of the people here. It was just a bunch of photos of migrant workers with the only Caucasian being a citizen of Slab City. There are a very sophisticated and attractive Hispanic population which better represents their demographic living here. The significant Asian, Indian, African American and growing Middle Eastern populations seemed to be ignored completely. I just didn't think the photos were all that good either. Just because they're in black and white doesn't mean they're art. The only upside to this book may be that it made the valley look so pathetic maybe the added attention may inspire some kind of "assistance" from the State and Feds. This critique may be a little stinging but I feel like I just wasted my money on something I may not be able to return.

I will make this review short and to the point (and I give my opinion here, for what it's worth, as a native Imperial Valleyite): this book is a collection of photographs which are not representative of the Imperial Valley - actually is more pointedly representative of Mexicali itself - also, while a book of photographs such as this (may I point out that there are no page or photograph numbers or even captions on the pages - yet the photos are numbered and captioned at the back of the book. Does this make any sense?) would NORMALLY be left out for sharing with family and friends, this particular book is rendered unsuitable for even that due to one particularly offensive full-frontal photo of a totally nude female. A photo of this nature is not even called for in such a collection. I have returned this book to Amazon.