The Book Prize Index

Rising Up and Rising Down

William T. Vollmann

William T. Vollmann's abridgment of his 3,500-page, seven-volumemagnum opus An odyssey through the history of violence, Rising Up and Rising Down combines William T. Vollmann's voracious appetite for the details of history with a disregard for his own safety, examines the actions of historical figures, scrutinizes the thinking of philosophers and finds Vollmann posting personal dispatches from some of the most dangerous and war-torn places on earth. The result is his Moral Calculus, a structured decision-making system designed to help the reader decide when violence is justifiable and when it is not.

Politics & GovernmentPolitics & Government · medium confidencePolitics & Government81 signalsLlm Classifier: Politics & Government -> Politics & GovernmentKeyword Classifier: Nature & Environment -> Nature & EnvironmentTopic Classifier: Travel, Exploration & Place -> Travel & PlaceTravel, Exploration & Place

Award History

0 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionMajor2003FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    Vollmann presents his Moral Calculus as a structured decision-making system to help readers judge when violence is justifiable and when it is not.

    Model confidence 70%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    45 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 78%.