General Books

How does the art world work? What are its secrets? Zaha Hadid, Jeff Koons, Hans Ulrich Obrist and others offer advice and anecdotes

Edited by Thomas Girst and Magnus Resch (author of the bestselling Management of Art Galleries), this indispensable and fun guide to contemporary art contains exclusive anecdotes, advice and personal stories from artists, museum directors, gallerists, auction house insiders, collectors and many more. Contributors include Jeff Koons, Zaha Hadid, Marina Abramovic, Ólafur Elíasson and John Baldessari, as well as directors and curators from the Centre Pompidou, the Guggenheim, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, the Nationalgalerie and elsewhere, including Philip Tinari, Hans Neuendorf, Matthew Slotover, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Daniel Birnbaum, Klaus Biesenbach, Jeffrey Deitch, Larry Gagosian, Alexandra Munroe and others.

Thoughtful and often critical entries make this informative publication an entertaining read for anyone interested in contemporary art.

Thomas Girst is an art historian and the worldwide Head of Cultural Engagement at the BMW Group. His most recent publications include The Duchamp Dictionary (2014) and Art, Literature, and the Japanese American Internment (2015).

Magnus Resch is an author, art entrepreneur and lecturer at the University of St. Gallen. His most recent publications include the Art Collector Report (2015) and the bestseller Management of Art Galleries (2015).

In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country's original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.

The New York Times Magazine's award-winning "1619 Project" issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.

This is a book that speaks directly to our current moment, contextualizing the systems of race and caste within which we operate today. It reveals long-glossed-over truths around our nation's founding and construction--and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary American life.

Featuring contributions from: Leslie Alexander - Michelle Alexander - Carol Anderson - Joshua Bennett - Reginald Dwayne Betts - Jamelle Bouie - Anthea Butler - Matthew Desmond - Rita Dove - Camille T. Dungy - Cornelius Eady - Eve L. Ewing - Nikky Finney - Vievee Francis - Yaa Gyasi - Forrest Hamer - Terrance Hayes - Kimberly Annece Henderson - Jeneen Interlandi - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - Barry Jenkins - Tyehimba Jess - Martha S. Jones - Robert Jones, Jr. - A. Van Jordan - Ibram X. Kendi - Eddie Kendricks - Yusef Komunyakaa - Kevin M. Kruse - Kiese Laymon - Trymaine Lee - Jasmine Mans - Terry McMillan - Tiya Miles - Wesley Morris - Khalil Gibran Muhammad - Lynn Nottage - ZZ Packer - Gregory Pardlo - Darryl Pinckney - Claudia Rankine - Jason Reynolds - Dorothy Roberts - Sonia Sanchez - Tim Seibles - Evie Shockley - Clint Smith - Danez Smith - Patricia Smith - Tracy K. Smith - Bryan Stevenson - Nafissa Thompson-Spires - Natasha Trethewey - Linda Villarosa - Jesmyn Ward