The radical changes that occurred in the three years between January 1962 and December 1964 had a profound effect on creative life in the city and around the world, altering not only the fine arts but everything from performance to music to design. Together with these creative innovations, the period from 1962 through 1964 saw a shift in the centre of artistic gravity from Europe to the United States and the rise of a new leadership in the arts, centred on a number of New York-based curators, gallerists, and other impresarios.

Modeled on the scale and format of Life magazine, one of the most widely read publications of the era, this lavishly illustrated oversize paperback traces a detailed itinerary of artists and curators, experimental exhibitions and ground-breaking museums, as well as historical and political events that transformed society during this explosive moment. From the important "New Realists" exhibition at Sidney Janis Gallery in 1962 to the award of the International Grand Prize in Painting to the New York-based artist Robert Rauschenberg at the Venice Biennale in 1964, the city saw a flood of new approaches to art making, as well as fertile encounters among creators across mediums and disciplines.