The author's primary purpose in this short book is to clearly define the nature of value and restore it to a central place in discussions of ethical and aesthetic problems. He begins the book with a broad cultural perspective on the issue of postmodernism in general, then takes a closer look at recent attempts to reduce values to evaluation, to deny their objectivity. The central chapter focuses on the question, "What Is Value?" after which Curtler discusses values in the fine arts and literature, concluding with the question of values in education.