There’s a lot of boring stuff about 19th century irrigation laws in here. A lot. But there’s also a lot of great writing. The story about the Chinese Mexicali tunnels, originally published in a magazine, is here and much extended, and is a particular highlight, a really fun bit of gonzo journalism. Also on the gonzo journalistic spectrum is the the story about the maquiladoras, where he spends most of the article trying and failing to get a button spy camera to work (and then looking for a woman with suitably large breasts so that the camera will be pointed where he wants it to point…) only to discover nothing. There’s a rhythmic, maybe musical pulse to the way the stories are laid out— you’ll get barraged with information in so many different formats, and then he’ll give you an “imperial reprise,” summing up the previous chapters with this bizarre repetition of quotes and themes. It works great! I would like to revisit it someday but without the motivation of being locked in a room with nothing to do it’s kind of impenetrable, at least for me. (I meant to read No Immediate Danger/No Good Alternative but hardcovers were banned because they could be used as weapons. You could definitely use Imperial as a weapon, though, so I don’t really understand the point of that rule.)
Particular high point: the chapter about the day laborers life contrasted with the homeless man’s. Anyone own the accompanying photo book? I would like to purchase a copy, Vollmann’s photography in “Shadows of Love, Shadows of Loneliness” is fantastic. I guess I remembered more about the book than I thought. It’s great, but I would never recommend it as a first-time Vollmann book.
I think "There’s a lot of boring stuff about [X]. A lot. But there’s also a lot of great writing" is a good way to describe a lot of Vollmann's work.