The Rifles: Volume Six of Seven Dreams: A Book of North American Landscapes
 by William Vollmann. New York, NY: 1994 Viking Press. First American edition in Fine unread condition in Fine dust jacket. Free shipping.

In an endnote to the latest installment in a projected seven-volume series, Vollmann states, "I have mixed my colors... from the palate of times." The Rifles addresses three historical topics in one hallucinatory narrative: the disastrous Franklin expedition to the North Pole in the 1840s, the Canadian government's forced relocation of Inuit families in the 1950s, and the devastating effects of Western technology on indigenous peoples. Captain Subzero, the book's narrator, journeys to Northern Canada in the 1990s, where he encounters the gasoline-sniffing descendants of a once-proud hunting race. Obsessed with Franklin, he retreats to a remote island outpost to experience cold and starvation firsthand. Huddled in his useless high-tech sleeping bag, Subzero "becomes" Franklin in a long fever dream that comprises most of the book. The text is augmented by maps, drawings, bibliographical notes, and a "consumer's report" on the equipment used. The Rifles is the best of the "Seven Dreams" series and one of Vollmann's most enjoyable books.