As South Africa’s democracy matures, Steven Dubin’s Spearheading Debate: Culture Wars & Uneasy Truces analyses the following questions: How does the state mediate between traditional tribal authority and constitutional law in matters such as initiation customs or the rights of women, children and homosexuals? What are the limitations on artistic freedom in a society where sensitivities over colonial- and apartheid-era representations are acute? Whose histories are venerated and whose are obliterated? How does race open up discussions or close down dialogue? What are the parameters of freedom of speech when minorities fear that hateful language may trigger actual violence against them? And do legacies of oppression generate exclusive insights and grant special rights? Examining disputes over South African art, music, media, editorial cartoons, history, public memory, and a variety of social practices, Spearheading Debate extends the culture-wars perspective to new territory, demonstrates its cross-cultural applicability, and parses critical debates within this vibrant society in formation.

Museums have become ground zero in America's culture wars. Whereas fierce public debates once centered on provocative work by upstart artists, the scrutiny has now expanded to mainstream cultural institutions and the ideas they present. In Displays of Power, Steven Dubin, whose "Arresting Images" was deemed "masterly" by the "New York Times," examines the most controversial exhibitions of the 1990s. These include shows about ethnicity, slavery, Freud, the Old West, and the dropping of the atomic bomb by the Enola Gay.""This new edition also includes a preface by the author detailing the recent Sensation! controversy at the Brooklyn Museum. Displays of Power draws directly upon interviews with many key combatants: museum administrators, community activists, curators, and scholars. It authoritatively analyzes these episodes of America struggling to redefine itself in the late 20th century.

Although contemporary art may sometimes shock us, more alarming are recent attempts to regulate its display. Drawing upon extensive interviews, a broad sampling of media accounts, legal documents and his own observations of important events, sociologist Steven Dubin surveys the recent trend in censorship of the visual arts, photography and film, as well as artistic upstarts such as video and performance art. He examines the dual meaning of arresting images--both the nature of art work which disarms its viewers and the social reaction to it. Arresting Images examines the battles which erupt when artists address such controversial issues as racial polarization, AIDS, gay-bashing and sexual inequality in their work.

Museums offer sights into how the world works, what it means to be human in all of its manifestations, how people are related to other species, and what they have achieved through the ages. And museums help kids develop their distinctive sense of self, both by seeing their own reflections in certain respects, and by judging themselves against other stuff that is there on offer. Museums supply excitement, wonderment, instruction, forbidden pleasures, enchantment, and escape, all in one extraordinary spot.' - extract from Chapter 3, 'The First Shall Be The Last: Picturing indigenous peoples and the sins of long ago'. Mounting Queen Victoria is an indispensable guide to the politics of culture and identity in the South African public sphere.