Sarah Thornton, SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD

Sociologist Sarah Thornton describes her new book, SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD: A flyonthewall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art. The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion. In a series of beautifully paced