American Visions The Epic History of Art in America

Summary: "Robert Hughes is an alien, and thank God for that. As he pointedly tells us in the very first sentence of this witty and impassioned history of American art from its beginnings to the present day, he is a resident alien who has decided to retain his Australian citizenship....The American culture of shining frontiers, Mr. Hughes seems to be saying, has shriveled into a culture of taunting extremes, where tribalism an...d solipsism hold each other tight all through the crazy American night. His beautiful and essential book, however, belies his own pessimistic conclusions. With it, Mr. Hughes has made American art safe for the receptive alien deep inside us all. [read more]