Pop Art embodied the spirit of the 1960s. Despite its carnival aspects, its orgiastic color and giant scale, it was based on a tough, no-nonsense, no-refinement standard appropriate to its time. Here several critics, each involved in Pop Art, but with different backgrounds, vividly bring the movement to life. Lucy Lippard examines Pop's precursor and related styles, ranging from folk art, Surrealism and Dada, to Assemblage, Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Lawrence Alloway contributes a chapter on the development of pop in England; Nancy Marmer considers Californian pop; Nicolas Calas, a member of the Surrealist movement in the 1930s and 40s assesses Pop icons. 187 illus., 18 in color.