Acting, direction, stagecraft, theatre architecture and design, the extraordinary evolution of dramatic literature here is an all-embracing and richly illustrated history, global in scope and ranging from the ancient origins of the theatre in the choral hymns sung around the altar of Dionysus to the fascinating variety of forms that it has taken in our own age. For this fourth edition, Enoch Brater, Kenneth T. Rowe Professor of Dramatic Literature at the University of Michigan and a specialist on modern and contemporary drama, has revised and extended his final chapter to update the discussion...

"Not only an indispensable contribution to the study of modern art, but also an illuminating study of modern Russia." —Hilton Kramer, The Nation When the original edition of this book was published, John Russell hailed it as "a massive contribution to our knowledge of one of the most fascinating and mysterious episodes in the history of modern art." It still remains the most compact, accurate and reasonably priced survey of sixty years of creative dynamic activity that profoundly influenced the progress of Western art and architecture. 256 illustrations, 21 in color...