Chapter one: Apostles of Ugliness - Chapter two: The largest small room in the world - Chapter three: The armory show: success by scandal - Chapter four: After the ball: cubism in America - Chapter five: The thisties: reaction and rebellion - Chapter six: Art of this century - Chapter seven: The new American painting - Chapter eight: After abstract expressionism - Chapter nine: Toward a sculptural renaissance - Chapter ten: Toward an American architecture.

"The history of American art in the twentieth century is one of revolt. of conflict. It is the story of the American artist's attempt to free himself from european models yet at the same time join the mainstream of Western art, of his continuing dialogue with Europe yet search for native roots. His struggles to resolve these dilemmas and to bring forth a legitimate American arte form as heir to the european modernist tradition are described by Barbara Rose, the noted art critic and lecturer, in this provocative - and much needed- analysis of contemporary American art. Beginning with the first decade of the century an the revolt of Th eight against the strictures of the Acdemy, Miss Rose traces the evolution of American art within the context of social, historical and intellecutal events, discussing the 1913 Armory show, a trojan horse that unleashed the European avant-garde on the American public; the 1920's, a period of rettenchment, of co promise solutions, of provincial Cubism; and the1930's of the american scene painters, the regionalist, the WPA projects." contraportada.