This book presents a unique and original series of interviews with American artists (including the Guerilla Girls, Shepard Fairey and Sean Astin) who have voiced their opposition to the war in Iraq. These discussions examine the relationships between arts and politics and the limits and conditions of political speech and action.

Violaine Roussel is a sociologist and professor of Political Science at the University of Paris VIII and currently a visiting scholar in the Department of Sociology at UCLA.

Foreword Michèle Lamont. Preface Steve Greenfield and Guy Osborn. Introduction Section 1: Figures of Committed Artists 1. Models and Public Voices in the Anti-War Movement 1.1. Robbie Conal: Figure of the Activist-Artist 1.2. Mike Farrell and Robert Greenwald: Leaders of the Hollywood Movement 1.3. Ozomatli: Not to "Separate Ourselves from the Movement" 1.4. Kathleen Chalfant: Combining Radicalism with Establishment 2. Generations and Relations to Politics 2.1. Sheila Pinkel: Activist-Artist in a Dark Time 2.2. Margo Lee Sherman: Bread and Puppet's Legacy 2.3. Ed Asner: Ambivalence of a Leftist Identification 2.4. Cynthia Croot: Temporally Rooted Devotion 2.5. Emek: Politicization as an Artistic Innovation 3. Identities, Communities and Anti-War Activism 3.1. Tony Shalhoub and Amitis Motevalli: Confronting Middle-Eastern Perspectives 3.2. Dread Scott: Use of Multilayered Identifications 3.3. Alexandra Paul: Strategic Identities in the Service of a Cause 3.4. Guerilla Girls On Tour: Women and Anti-War Activism Section 2: Artistic Professions and Politics 4. Costs and Paradoxes of Engaged Art 4.1. Lida Abdullah and Susan Silton: Threats on the Visual Arts 4.2. David Clennon: The Price of Political Commitment in Hollywood 4.3. Fredwreck: The Rules of the Music Industry 4.4. Sophia Skiles: Professional Ambivalences of Political Commitment 4.5. Mear-One: Paradoxes of Politicization 5. Shaping a Political Intention in the Form of Art: From Tension to Affinity 5.1. Focus 1: Around Day Zero: The "Political Fiction Film", An Impossible Genre? Interviews with Bryan Gunnar Cole (director), Robert Malkany(scriptwriter), Jon Bernthal (actor) and Anthony Moody (producer) 5.2. Focus 2: Around Living Theatre's Plays The Brig, No Sir and A Day in the Life of the City: Uses and Constraints of Street Theatre Plays. Interviews with Actors from the Living Theatre (Jerry Goralnick and Garry Brackett) 5.3. Shepard Fairey: Changing Clients into Publics 6. Hollywood and the War: Celebrities versus Politicians? 6.1. Paul Haggis: Leading by Example 6.2. Bradley Whitford: The Dynamics of The West Wing 6.3. Sean Astin: Hollywood, Politics and Power 6.4. Peter Coyote: Engagement versus Activism 6.5. Kimberly Pierce: The Strength of "Cultural Power"