Book excerpt: A rich, illustrated history of the New Museum, a pioneering, internationally renowned institution. Through a detailed chronology that captures the New York museum's legendary firsts, major milestones, groundbreaking exhibitions, and prescient curatorial thinking, this book provides the first authoritative history on an institution whose bold and experimental spirit has made it a model twenty-first-century art museum. The book traces its growth, from its beginnings in a classroom at the New School, to its role as an international institution.