William T. Vollmann

The prolific author has devoted much of his work to dissecting war, from An Afghanistan Picture Show, or, How I Saved the World, which details his time with the mujahideen, to Rising Up and Rising Down, his seven-volume study of violence, to Europe Central, his National Book Award-winning novel set in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. The key to writing about this part of the human condition, he says, “is to be empathetic. We have to use our imaginations and try to see life as our brothers and sisters see it.” For the centennial of World War I’s conclusion, Vollmann marched along the French front to excavate the war’s memories (p. 48).