Born of outlaw populism, street art and graffiti arose after hours in alleys, abandoned buildings and desolate transit stations--often signed with the artist's stylized "tag." Almost a century after Diego Rivera painted his great Mexican murals, though, street art has become mainstream. Rafael Schacter, anthropologist and curator of several public art exhibitions, spent a decade researching the contemporary network of established but still iconoclastic artists working the streets of major urban centers. The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti showcases more than 100 artists in 16 cities whose work is as varied as the colorful cross-hatched murals of Sao Paulo's Nunca and the bold wall paintings of Barcelona's Aryz. The more than 700 dramatic color illustrations are buttressed by slightly cockeyed world map inkblot endpapers by the Helsinki artist Egs. Street art and graffiti may have gone coffee table, but that doesn't diminish their impressive power. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.