William T. Vollmann, who stands alongside Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace, has written a War and Peace for the 21st century with Europe Central - an oversized epic in 37 chapters featuring both fictional and real figures, including artists like Käthe Kollwitz and Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as military leaders like General Vlasov and Friedrich Paulus, the loser of Stalingrad. Their life stories evoke the history of World War II from both the Soviet and German perspectives. But at the heart of the novel lies a love story: the unconditional love of Shostakovich for Elena Konstantinovskaya. Let us set aside what we know about history and immerse ourselves in this bold, immense, fascinating, profound, and comprehensive work: Europe Central. A 'War and Peace' of the 20th century, with which Vollmann ultimately makes his mark.