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What Remains to Be Said
The L.A. fires, one year later.
Featured Exhibit
Harun Farocki
German filmmaker, video artist, theorist and writer Harun Farocki’s work is featured in the “Security” issue of the LARB Quarterly.
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Our Ordeal Is Worth It
Mona Fastvold’s ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ presents a musical American allegory of the Great Awakening that is ‘fundamentally carnal, even if its heroine is decidedly not.’
The Globalization of US Healthcare
Eram Alam’s new book uncovers the ways that immigrant physicians have propped up the American medical system.
Outward Signs of Inner Mysteries
Eric Gudas on the work and afterlife of the misunderstood photographer Diane Arbus.
Energy from Heaven, Not from Hell
Bill McKibben makes the case for combating the climate crisis by transitioning from fossil fuels to solar power.
At Tammy Wynette’s Grave, Woodlawn Memorial Park, Nashville
Drew Bratcher meditates on the legacy of a country music legend.
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With your help, we can sustain a free and independent LARB for years to come. All gifts through January 9 will be matched by a donor up to $100,000.
Help us reach our $200,000 goal!
Have dinner with a literary luminary.
On January 24, 2026, acclaimed journalist and author Susan Orlean will be joined in conversation by music critic and fellow writer Alex Ross at the historic Thomas Mann House. Tickets are on sale now.
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LARB RADIO HOUR
Sally Mann’s 'Art Work: On the Creative Life'
We revisit our episode with photographer and writer Sally Mann about her book, "Art Work: On the Creative Life."
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FROM THE FORTHCOMING ISSUE
An Apocalypse for Every Epoch
Emmett Rensin writes on eco-grief, the climate dirge, and one Armenian monk in a new hybrid fiction-cum-essay from LARB Quarterly no. 47, “Security.”
FROM THE FORTHCOMING ISSUE
Filthy Matters
Calvin Gimpelevich writes on the history and politics of public bathrooms, in this essay from LARB Quarterly no. 47, “Security.”
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Flesh Under Pressure
Chelsea Davis considers Katherine Dunn’s posthumous story collection ‘Near Flesh.’
Almost Candid
Tim Riley listens for the unspoken ironies of Cameron Crowe’s career via his new memoir, ‘The Uncool.’
We Did Good Enough
Vesper North ponders Lisa Alvarez’s new story collection.
Sally Mann’s 'Art Work: On the Creative Life'
We revisit our episode with photographer and writer Sally Mann about her book, "Art Work: On the Creative Life."
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SILVER SCREEN
Culture Never Recovered
From his rear window, M. Keith Booker reads the new anthology of stories inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Maxim Jakubowski.
TRAFFIC JAM
Saints of the Middlebrow
Jon Repetti considers Jeremy Rosen’s “Genre Bending: The Plasticity of Form in Contemporary Literary Fiction.”
CITY OF ANGELS
Still Not Geriatric: Archiving a Teenage Riot Grrrl Band
Martin Wong catches up with SoCal punk band Emily’s Sassy Lime upon their reunion for the California Biennial.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Your Life Is Not a Plot
Nada Alic speaks with Halle Butler about social satire, writing humor, and her newest novel, “Banal Nightmare.”
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Latest
Stone Age Mindset
Luke Kemp’s ‘Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse’ diagnoses civilizational symptoms while sidestepping serious solutions.
Jodie Hollander’s ‘The Ouija Board’
Jodie Hollander describes the imprisonment of fame, in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 47, ‘Security.’
Tess Taylor’s ‘Three Notebooks’
Tess Taylor captures fragments of dream text, blank invitations, and stored receipts, in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 47, ‘Security.’
Root Work
Alexis Pauline Gumbs interviews Jason Allen-Paisant about his new memoir.
Anna Journey’s ‘I Object to the Etymology of Sacrum’
Anna Journey writes on the ‘site of infernal nerve spark and spasm,’ in a poem from LARB Quarterly no. 47, ‘Security.’
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Fault Lines
What our editors can’t stop thinking about, from cultural research and reporting to political commentary and coverage of current events.
Drawing America’s Brutal Imagination
Justin A. Davis writes on Ralph Bakshi’s controversial film “Coonskin” for its 50th anniversary, in a preview of the LARB Quarterly no. 47, “Security.”
Run for the Sun, Little One
Carly Mattox considers recent critiques of imperialist nostalgia via Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later” and Adam Curtis’s “Shifty.”
Freeing the Library
Aaron Boehmer writes about community libraries and the importance of accessible archival and literary resources in these times.
Racialized Economic Piracy
Joel Edward Goza dives into Calvin Schermerhorn’s new study of American history, tracing a financial pattern of racial exploitation that’s woven into the nation’s fabric.
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Vantage Points
Long-form views on literature, art, and experience from LARB’s online magazine and print Quarterly.
Beginning to See the Light
Rowland Bagnall dives into the early work of Stephen Shore, newly collected by MACK.
A Fierce and Complicated Compassion
Alix Christie considers Susan Straight’s challenging yet crucial portraits of an “overlooked” California.
The Fascist Cinematic Universe
Tim Brinkhof considers Joe Wright’s new Mussolini miniseries as a flawed representation of the rise of fascism in Italy.
No More Heroes
Clara Cuccaro considers the “myth of resistance” in Joachim Trier’s newest film, “Sentimental Value.”
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Short Takes
Brief dispatches from L.A.’s arts and culture scenes. Courtesy of LARB’s local columnists and occasional correspondents.
Hail, Caesar
Friends, Romans, countrymen: Nathan Jefferson lends his ears (and eyes) to the immersive “Julius Caesar” production at Heritage Square Museum.
The Whole Idea of Knowing the Truth
Elizabeth Barton trawls through the newly opened Joan Didion archives at New York Public Library to learn about the making of the author’s first book.
Jackpot!
“Nothing is clearly defined” in Julia Yerger’s art exhibition, which Keith J. Varadi finds to be a big win.
My Date at the Holocaust Ballet
Dorie Chevlen attends “Memoryhouse,” an abstract, cinematic performance that still managed to dance around comparisons to contemporary injustices.
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LARB Radio Hour
Special Show: Jenny Slate and Sarah Manguso
Tales from Two Critics: A.S. Hamrah and Melissa Anderson on the Year in Film
Film critics and authors A.S Hamrah and Melissa Anderson join the podcast to talk about 2025 in film, the Warner Bros. sale, AI use, and more.
Best of 2025
LARB Radio Hour hosts pick their favorite books, movies, TV shows, music, magazines, and scandals from 2025. Listen to hear about Nuzzi, Superman, and more
Julia Loktev's "My Undesirable Friends"
Julia Loktev joins the podcast to talk about her new documentary "My Undesirable Friends," following a team of journalists in Russia right before the invasion of Ukraine.
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The LARB Quarterly
LARB Quarterly, no. 47: Security
Brace yourself, new essays, fiction, poetry, art, and comics are here. Hunker down with the LARB Quarterly no 47: Security, exploring vulnerability, loss, and refuge.
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