"Nike Wagner has a sophisticated and subtle mind. Her intellectual and artistic credentials are formidable, and she writes in a highly polished, witty, and allusive style that is enormously rewarding. In this book, she performs a tour de force. . . . As a piece of cultural history--a discipline that is nowadays widely practiced in a variety of deformed jargons, but is here a contribution itself to culture--this book is exemplary. It is a virtuoso performance."--Michael Tanner, Cambridge University, author of "Wagner"