This book reminds me why I liked art history 101 so much. The formal and aesthetic aspects of a painting or sculpture sometimes eluded me, but an objets de art or a historical scene can fire the imagination and transport ones mind to the distant past in the same way a brilliant written narrative can. This book's value then is not the glossy photos of world treasures but rather MacGregor's admirable way of using the artifact as a touchstone for historical, political sociological, psychological and and literary musings. So much more inspired than the didactic analyses of well-meaning' but tiresome museum docents.

It enlightened me to see how so many civilized cultures run around a circle when it comes to embracing humanity, freedom, and tolerance.

You're doing it wrong.