It examines not only the partisan credentials of what it argues is a new brand of art engagé, but also the "nobrow" style in which it conducts its political business.

[citation needed] The principal examples of American literature that Swirski discusses in detail are: Irving Wallace’s The Man (1964), Richard Condon’s Death of a Politician (1978), P.J.

O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores (1991; 2003), Warren Beatty’s script and film Bulworth (1998), and Michael Moore’s Stupid White Men... and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation (2002; 2004).

As Swirski remarks in the introduction, the political art discussed in Ars Americana “should come equipped with shock-absorbers”.

Nominated for a dozen major awards,[1] the work was touted by Howard Zinn as “fascinating and original”.