Twenty-three years in the making, Rising Up and Rising Down (the original, publi
shed by McSweeney's in October 2003, spans seven volumes) is a rich amalgam of h
istorical analysis, contemporary case studies, anecdotes, essays, theory, charts
, graphs, photographs and drawings. Convinced that there is "a finite number of
excuses" for violence and that some excuses "are more valid than others," Vollma
nn spent two decades consulting hundreds of sources, scrutinizing the thinking o
f philosophers, theologians, tyrants, warlords, military strategists, activists
and pacifists. He also visited more than a dozen countries and war zones to witn
ess violence firsthand -- sometimes barely escaping with his life.
Vollmann mak
es deft use of these tools and experiences to create his Moral Calculus, a struc
tured decision-making system designed to help the reader decide when violence is
justifiable and when it is not.
