This densely and incisively written book provides a compelling theoretical framework for the understanding of the logic of culture in modern times. From the rhetoric of the French Revolution to contemporary museum displays, from Schiller's aesthetics to concepts broached by Matthew Arnold, Foucault and Bourdieu, Ray engages a variety of periods, genres, issues, and regimes of thought with mastery and elegance. A major accomplishment and a fascinating read! Bernadette Fort, Northwestern University and Editor of
Eighteenth-Century Studies A tightly argued and coherent account of the conflicting impulses within culture, Ray's study will take its rightful place among the best recent work on the intricacies of culture. John C. O'Neal, Hamilton College
