British Art: A Walk Round the Rusty Pier

Julian Freeman's 16 essays on British Art turn the subject on its head and its side, and—without formally pretending to reassess it—give it a good shaking. Skating across the better part of 500 years, the book's choices of subject are unapologetic, and the ideas move in directions they don't usually go. Moving at full tilt or more sedately, the text always stays within reach of the popular reader. Like his successful first books, Art: A Crash Course and Design (in the same series), British Art is both provocative and affectionate. Freeman's text moves from discursive commentaries on the art of the British Isles to consider other matters, including spirituality, the business of exhibiting, and the weather. It's picky. It can't cover everything, but when it takes its aim, it's unerring.