This book accompanies the 2008 Biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art, always a highly anticipated event in the art world. Inaugurated by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932, the Whitney's biennial exhibitions have received acclaim, stirred controversy, and unfailingly fostered artistic innovation and diversity. 'The 2008 Biennial' features some 85 artists and collectives working in many media and employing a variety of methods and practices.The book is abundantly illustrated, with the vast majority of its 300 images presented in colour. Whitney curators Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momim provide insightful essays, as does a specially commissioned essay by Rebecca Solnit. In one section of the book, a short text accompanies reproductions of each artist's work; other sections present documentation of the artists' diverse methods and practices as represented in the Biennial exhibition.The Whitney Museum of American Art has vigorously supported the development of 20th- and 21st-century American art since its founding, and that commitment is reflected nowhere more clearly than in the sponsorship of the Biennial exhibition, the museum's signature survey of contemporary art.