content: A rather disappointing read since the book fails to adequately deal with the politics of the period. House's argument that oppositional painting is necessarily political is not only flawed but little evidence is offered in support of his argument, an argument which goes something like this: many impressionist works and also those by Manet explicitly reject preordained hierachies of value in terms of both legibility of subject matter and technique,they are thus subversive,disruptive and oppositional and as a result political. I had expected the book to address in a more explicit, detailed and concrete manner the relationship of art produced at the time to politics. However, many of the descriptions of the works themselves are enlightening and chapter 4, 'The Viewer of Modern Life' is well worth a read.