Europe Central: National Book Award Winner

Description: In his newest work, Vollmann presents a mesmerizing series of intertwined paired stories that compare and contrast the moral decisions made by various figures associated with the warring authoritarian cultures of Germany and the USSR in the 20th century.

Review Quotes: "His most welcoming work, possibly his best book . . . part novel and part stories, virtuoso historical remembrance and focused study of violence."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A jarring, haunting, absurdly ambitious symphony of a book . . . It has an emotional force capable of ripping almost any reader from his moorings. . . . Vollmann has done as much as anyone in recent memory to return moral seriousness to American fiction."
--Steve Kettmann, San Francisco Chronicle

"Resembles War and Peace not merely in its scope, but in its perception of history as a determining force that individual lives merely illustrate . . . Aspires to the highest possible potential of literature."
--Melvin Jules Bukiet, Los Angeles Times

"A grimly magnificent dramatization of the impossible moral choices forced on individuals by these totalitarian regimes . . . if you have been following Vollmann's extraordinary career, Europe Central may be his best novel ever."
--Steven Moore, The Washington Post

"Profound . . . Vollmann asks us to put aside what we think we know of history and immerse ourselves in it once again."
--John Freeman, The Boston Globe