Michael Bracewell approaches visual art through its cultural context, the lens of the recent past and prolonged looking. He focuses on detailed descriptions of artworks, expanding their interpretation to include media, politics, music, poetry and other areas of cultural production. Together, the texts read as a history of the UK and British art from 1959 to the present day, featuring artists such as Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Gilbert George and Damien Hirst. Each essay is accompanied by an illustration selected by Bracewell himself. The collection concludes with a body of recent autobiographical writings, entitled Germany is Your America.