Memorial to a passing era? Mistress to history? Illustration of popular legend?

Where is the art in traditional narrative western art? Is it kitsch or kunst? Six writers on art and popular culture survey the terrain of western art in the twenty-first century, tracing and refining its boundaries in the areas of aesthetics and national identity.

Their sharp-eyed observations support a newly emerging history of western art that places it in a social, psychological, and political-as well as aesthetic-context. The result is a refreshing, vigorous, and substantial contribution in America art history.