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William T. Vollmann

Imperial Hardcover – July 20, 2009

by William T. Vollmann (Author)

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The Imperial Valley of southeastern California and the U.S./Mexico border is a place with a heavy history and an uncertain future. It is a land of great progress and crushing failure, home to a past that includes migrant workers, Mexican laborers, struggling farmers, corporate exploitation, pollution, the forgotten paradise of the Salton Sea, and underground tunnels that housed illegal Chinese immigrants, brothels, and gambling dens. Even at the turn of the twentieth century, few settled in the Imperial Valley because of its hot desert climate and lack of water. In 1901, the Imperial Land Company recognized the area’s soil potential and diverted the waters of the Colorado River to it, in effect transforming wasteland into productive farmland.

Named for the corporation that brought it to life, the Imperial Valley, its surrounding regions (including the Coachella and Mexicali Valleys), and the people who live there are the subjects of the latest work by acclaimed author and now published photographer William T. Vollmann (who will release an epic nonfiction book about the area with Viking in 2009). “It’s an incredible area, teeming with secrets and the tension of the border,” says Vollmann of his first pictorial work. “It’s that tension that gives the place its meaning.”  

Imperial is a study of a people and place on the margins, familiar territory for its author. Through his exploration, Vollmann uncovers the people and their struggles, which have been so easily pushed aside. It’s a photographic portrait of the Valley’s last decade, in which Vollmann’s pictures provide a visual identity to those who call it home. They have suffered and flourished amidst a landscape that is both breathtaking and heartbreaking, alluring and repelling. 

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

powerHouse Books
Publication date

July 20, 2009
Dimensions

10.53 x 1.01 x 13.9 inches
ISBN-10

1576874893
ISBN-13

978-1576874899
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William T. Vollmann is the author of 17 books, including Europe Central (Viking, 2005), winner of the National Book Award. He has also won the Whiting Writers Award, the PEN Center/USA West Award, and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in California.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ powerHouse Books; 1st edition (July 20, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1576874893
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1576874899
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.53 x 1.01 x 13.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,464,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,052 in City Photography
- #2,542 in Poverty
- #4,781 in Photo Essays (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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William T. Vollmann

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William Tanner Vollmann (born July 28, 1959) is an American novelist, journalist, war correspondent, short story writer, and essayist. He won the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction for the novel Europe Central. He lives in Sacramento, California, with his wife and daughter.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Øystein Vidnes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oysteinv/160077312/) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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5 star		61%
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3 star		7%
2 star		6%
1 star		9%

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Chris C. Hill

A rich collection

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2009

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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.

20 people found this helpful

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Joan Colby

Total Immersion

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2010

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If one best learns a language by total immersion, then one can likewise learn of place as William Vollman sets out to prove in his massive study "Imperial" which bombards the reader with every sort of datum on the California-Mexican area. Major themes include distribution of water, the transformation of small farms to vast agricultural domains, the plight of the Mexican illegal immigrant, the history of the Chinese in Mexico, accounts of early settlers, and more, much more. "Imperial" documents the conflicting cultures of American domination and Mexican poverty that poses a political and so far insoluable problem.

3 people found this helpful

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arascal

Imperial

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2012

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I had hoped that Imperial would provide a clearer picture of the lives of my ancestors who worked the fields of Imperial Valley from about 1910 to 1932. Imperial is ambitious and comprehensive. 1,132 pages of text, not counting chronology, bibliography, sources, persons interviewed, and acknowledgements. Vollmann is a good writer and his subject is thoroughly researched. The dust cover says he spent ten years researching it. It shows. The chronology and the footnotes are interesting -- often more interesting than the referenced text. Vollmann shifts from researched facts to first person narrative and subjects are addressed in a non linear fashion with a lack of continuity and he often wanders afield. For my purposes, his personal experiences on both sides of the border were of little interest. Too much space was devoted to illegal immigration. With great intensity, he does key in on the most important elements of Imperial Valley's past, present and future -- water, dreams, greed (Harry Chandler's control of land on both sides of the border is interesting reading),and the exploitation of those who work the fields. I had already done considerable research on Imperial Valley and skimmed many chapters that did not interest me or covered information I already had. Another time, I may go back and re-read the book without preconceived expectations.

7 people found this helpful

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Sal Paradise

This is Photography In Stark Relief

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2016

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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.

3 people found this helpful

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brydurk

parts greater than the sum?

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2011

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I have read this book. However, I did not manage (or attempt) to read it straight through. Rather, I picked it up every now and then when I wanted to escape into a different place and/or time and maybe just gain some perspective on a region I didn't know very much about. I like Vollmann's writing and I am also interested in the Imperial County region and its history, so I was happy. This book is not for everyone. Hell, it's probably not for most people. Between the size, the price, and the subject matter, it's not light reading or light carrying. It's not all great. Some of it is quite tedious and overdone. But if you've any interest in the growth of southern California, life in a border region, or the evolution of agriculture in this country, you might want to give it a try. And it's Vollmann, so there are the assortment of prostitutes and view of the seedier side of things that you'd expect.

7 people found this helpful

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JLA

The book safely arrived as described.

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2021

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Thanks.

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Sky Child

A reality check about the plight if migrant workers, ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2014

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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?

4 people found this helpful

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David Loyd

and can best be understood as a Twentieth Century equivalent to "Moby ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2014

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This book is larger than the United States, squarely centered on the human, and can best be understood as a Twentieth Century equivalent to "Moby Dick". Thank you to Penquin for taking the double dog dare, and thank you to W.T. Vollmann.

Want to meet Herman Melville or Walt Whitman? Good luck; they're dead. You can catch their homologue when Vollmann does a book reading. Proves that white boys can write.

4 people found this helpful

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Nicholas Georgiou

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2015

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Absolute steal at £10.

One person found this helpful

JP

GOOd book/Bad conditions

Reviewed in Mexico on January 6, 2019

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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.

J. Gomes

Imperial

Reviewed in Germany on January 29, 2010

Verified Purchase

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.

One person found this helpful

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William T. Vollmann

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