This important interdisciplinary book is a unique and timely contribution to the field of women in the arts. Each chapter is devoted to a single artist and a single ground-breaking work that altered the course of its art form in a full array of genres, including dance, music, installation, photography, architecture, poetry, literature, theater, film, performance art, and popular culture. These discussions are preceded by a comprehensive introduction to art by women over the past century that sets the artists who follow in a context that insightfully illuminates their struggles, their achievements, and their places in history at a critical moment in the contemporary world.

In this second edition, the authors have made a significant update with six new chapters, new photos, and a revised introduction. The new chapters take as their subjects the contributions of Yoko Ono, Crystal Pite, Caroline Shaw, Beyonc , Kara Walker, and Diane Paulus. Each of the new chapters represents an artist or a category of art that has grown in prominence or engaged a significant redefinition in the contemporary world that was not addressed in the original edition of the book. Updating this material re-establishes the book's priority and relevance, especially in its expansion of representation of artists of color and artists in popular culture, and reinforces its appeal not only as a popular read, but as a classroom textbook or resource at the university level.