A conversation with author Paul Thomas Murphy about his new book “Falling Rocket: James Whistler, John Ruskin, and the Battle for Modern Art”. The subject of the book is a landmark libel suit from 1878 that pitted the artist Whistler versus the most authoritative art critic of his time. Ruskin had taken issue with a number of groundbreaking Whistler paintings which captured London by night, claiming them devoid of artistic merit and Whistler a fraud. The book illuminates the decade leading up to the trial, the events of the litigation, and the aftermath of the jury’s judgment. https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Rocket-Whistler-Ruskin-Battle/dp/1639364919 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Falling-Rocket/Paul-Thomas-Murphy/9781639364916 https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1540370.Paul_Thomas_Murphy