With the sharpness and confidence of one who championed Rauschenberg's work in its beginnings and has pondered it ever since, Steinberg offers in-depth discussions of such major challenges as the Erased de Kooning Drawing, Bed, and Monogram. Where his interpretations differ from those of other critics, he shows how, and why. And he reflects candidly on his own change of mind over the years. Rauschenberg's crucial role in exploding earlier limits of art -- "letting the world in again" -- is demonstrated with fresh argument and precision. Where some of Rauschenberg's more recent work leaves him unmoved, or resistant, Steinberg is ready to say so.

Steinberg warns against the modish enthusiasm that now loads Rauschenberg's work with murderous symbolism or same-sex iconography. He argues that meaning in this artist's work is almost unspeakable, and the novel relationship established between the work and the viewer more subtly intentioned.