A good number of works from the fifties and sixties by the British artists Richard Hamilton, Ronald B. Kitaj or David Hockney seem no less 'pop' and 'American' than those by Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein, which have since become icons of U.S. popular culture. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, pop artists unabashedly borrowed from American popular culture, using the same gaudy formulas and techniques taken from advertising.

This book traces the development of Pop Art in the fifties and sixties to the dialogue between British and American artists, documenting its complex genesis in London and later in New York and Los Angeles and concentrating on the development of its 'pure' characteristics, such as sharply outlined images and the use of photographic media and printing techniques. The book not only investigates the connections between American and British artists with respect to content and form but also takes a closer look at the exchange between the East and West Coast of the United States.