One of the many reviews archived here from livejournal.

Expelled from Eden: A William T. Vollmann Reader
William T. Vollman

I got a soft spot for this gun wielding, prostitute loving, million page book writing nutso-nerdo. I think sometimes if I was smarter, and crazier, and got beat up more in high school, I might have ended up like him. So, I read a fair bit of Vollman (and buy and don’t read a fair amount more). This one is for either the completist (because of the nice, short biographical pieces including one on his time at Deep Springs College), or for the total novice who would like to read about the time he tried to join the rebels fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.

A lot of what is in here already appeared in places like The Atlas, so it’s not really worth it if you’ve read that. If you haven’t and you’re curious about the ugliest guy to ever win the National Book Award, you could do worse than to check this one out.

Recommended for the enthusiast.