A rich and groundbreaking study of conceptual art, from Duchamp to Warhol, and its relationship to capitalism.

In this intellectually wide-ranging book John Roberts develops a labor theory of culture as a model for explaining the dynamics of avant-garde art and the expansion of artistic authority in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

From Duchamp to Warhol, conceptual art, and the “post-visual” practices of the moment, Roberts explores the relationship between artistic labor and productive labor, and the limits and possibilities of authorship. In doing so, he confronts a recurring theme of both conservative and radical detractors of modern art in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: how is skill, and the seeming absence of skill in modern art, to be theorized and evaluated? Drawing on cognitive psychology, labor process theory, social anthropology, and debates in contemporary political philosophy, Roberts‘ book establishes a new critical topography for examining the cultural form of art today.

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All the many campaigns, operations, and deployments the Royal Navy has conducted around the world in the past fifty years are examined in this new history by John Roberts. With privileged access to secret and confidential Admiralty plans and commanding officers reports, the author provides a wealth of previously unpublished information covering the period from the Cold War to the Falklands War and the Gulf Wars. Profusely illustrated with hundreds of rarely seen photographs, it tells the story of how the Royal Navy has adapted to meet new challenges and carried out such vital roles as manning the nation s strategic nuclear deterrent and guarding offshore oil and gas facilities. Published as a golden jubilee tribute to the Royal Navy, this complete history also covers the development of ships, submarines, aircraft, weapons, tactics, and strategies....