imperial

It's almost a standing joke that every story on William T. Vollmann has to mention his prolific output within the first few lines of the piece, and here I am being no different but, seriously, this is a man who has written a seven-volume set about how humans justify their use of violence.  Aimee and I went to Moe's tonight to hear him read from his newest magnum opus, Imperial, which delves deeply into the real-life stories of California's Imperial County near the border with Mexico.  In one passage Vollmann described riding along with U.S. border guards as they struggle to keep people on one side of that arbitrary line, and in another he read the frank words of a friend of his who is a field worker on the farms in the Imperial Valley and who does backbreaking work for mere dollars a day.  As a journalist Vollmann is renowned for seeking out information in often what are very dangerous situations, and with the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee on everyone's mind today an audience member asked Vollmann if he had hypothetically been imprisoned during his time in Afghanistan or Iraq if he would have expected a similar diplomatic mission from the U.S. on his behalf.  Vollmann smiled with genuine humor and said he doubted they would have done a thing for him.