Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this concluding volume, post-1945 events are traced in a fine introductory essay that discusses, among other topics, successive government involvement in arts funding and the growth of a permissive society. Separate essays examine film, architecture, music, and painting. Numerous illustrations add to the collection's value. Yet despite its many virtues, the audience for this volume remains unclear. Several essays, including those on the visual arts and on the crafts, are intellectually sophisticated and highly technical; others are of the coffee-table variety. More important, popular culture is almost entirely ignored. There is little about television programming, probably the most critical element in the contemporary British arts scene, and there are no references to jazz or pop music. The tabloid press is treated in a uniformly hostile way. In short, the volume espouses a traditional view of culture, which, in scholarly terms, is somewhat outdated. -J. H. Wiener, City College, CUNY