In this collection of interconnected essays, Arthur C. Danto argues that Andy Warhol's Brillo Box of 1964 brought the established trajectory of Westen art to an end and gave rise to a pluralism which has changed the way art is made, perceived, and exhibited. Wonderfully illuminating and highly provocative, his essays explore how conceptions of art–and resulting historical narratives–differ according to culture. They also grapple with the most challenging issues in art today, including censorship and state support of artists.

Arthur C. Danto is Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University and art critic for The Nation. Among his books are Playing with the Edge: The Photographic Achievement of Robert Mapplethorpe and Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present, both published by University of California Press. He was the winner of the 1990 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism.

"Danto's richly digressive wit and learning keep us in tow. . . . In this period in which Art has evolved into Philosophy, Danto is producing a Criticism that at moments turns into a kind of Poetry."—Nicholas Jenkins, New York Newsday

"Rigorous, untrendy and wonderfully accessible . . . Danto [is] one of the most interesting and important critics of our time."—Bruce Barcott, Seattle Weekly

"[Danto is] the one contemporary thinker about art that every intellectual interested in the subject must read."—Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Arthur Danto is the most radical writer on art in America—radical because his prose is clear, because he is indifferent to fashion, because he loves art."—Richard Sennett