A book of essays that focus on the political power of art not only to convey or interpret historic or current events but transform them as well. Essays include: the role of Courbet, Zola and others in the Paris Commune in the late 19th century which established the French republic; Dadaism in New York City during WW1 and the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall on artists, drawing on the social criticism of Noam Chomsky and others.