Originally published by Edinburgh University Press, the book is a pioneering study of the relationship between the European avant-garde and democracy. Focusing on the continental avant-gardes of the 1910s and 1920s, Bru fundamentally revises the existing understanding of the cultural and political history of modernism. He analyzes the works of, among others, F.T. Marinetti, Richard Huelsenbeck, and Paul van Ostaijen, situating them within the exceptional democratic context of the First World War and the subsequent political upheavals. 
The study demonstrates that in conditions of “states of exception,” when democratic institutions and the autonomy of art were suspended, avant-gardists devised a variety of strategies to safeguard the sovereignty of art—from transforming politics and law into genuine artistic material to creating alternative models of democracy. Contrary to the common assumption that anti-art gestures were meant to abolish art’s autonomy and assimilate it to politics, Bru shows that avant-gardists were, in fact, among the staunchest defenders of art’s independence in modern times. 
The book establishes a dialogue between Anglo-American and European modernist studies, offers new interpretations of Berlin Dada, Futurism, and Expressionism, and proposes innovative historical frameworks for analyzing the continental avant-garde in a cultural-political perspective.