Surpassing the Spectacle Global Transformations and the Changing Politics of Art

Leading social critic Carol Becker offers a timely analysis of the nature of art and its role in politics and society. Completed just before the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center catastrophe, this book is remarkably prescient of the new concerns that have now become foremost in our thoughts since the attack. Becker raises the question of the place of art and the function of public intellectuals in a society desperately in need of creativity and leadership.