This study begins with the dramatic immediacy of a blockbuster novel as the authur looks, behind-the-scenes, at the auction where Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr Gachet was sold for $82.5 million. The author then turns back the clock to the rise of the modern art market - from a key Manet exhibition in 1882 through three critical eras (1882-1929, 1930-1956, 1957-1992). The book is full of anecdotes about the entrepreneurs, the rascals, the artists and collectors.