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Sadism as Psychotherapy
Jon Stock’s recent book examines the deplorable career of prominent psychiatrist Willam Sargant and his brand of bio-therapeutics.
Featured Exhibit
Nicole-Antonia Spagnola
Nicole-Antonia Spagnola’s silent Super 8 film, 1-2-3: Apartment Gallery, loosely departs from the films of Billy Wilder.
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Let Down by Understatement
Scott Broker’s debut novel is like ‘Scenes from a (Gay) Marriage’ with undertones of Stephen King.
World Cup Nausea
With the World Cup looming in North America this summer, Simon Kuper offers a compelling—and depressing—history of this unique tournament.
Reading (and Shopping) with Angela McRobbie
A reflection on the Birmingham School cultural studies scholar’s vision of girlhood.
Finding Our God-Terms
The work of literary critic Mark Edmundson offers a powerful vision for recentering the American university.
Shelter in Place
The battle for Minnesota’s public.
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LARB Turns 15
Join us this year as we celebrate 15 years of LARB with a rotating selection of new editorial features and old favorites from our archive, some fresh updates to our site and newsletters, a forthcoming special anthology issue of the LARB Quarterly, a full slate of exciting events and workshops, and so much more.
Celebrate with us!
2026 Publishing Workshop
Launch your career in publishing!
Join an online intensive program featuring workshops in book and magazine publishing and networking opportunities with 60+ speakers from presses, magazines, and literary organizations across the country. Apply by March 15.
Apply by March 15
LARB RADIO HOUR
Namwali Serpell's 'On Morrison'
Novelist and critic Namwali Serpell joins the podcast to discuss her latest book, 'On Morrison. '
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Help us keep LARB paywall-free.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Iranians Don’t Need to Prove Their Revolution to You
The uprising in Iran isn’t only against armed oppression; it’s also over narrative.
COLOR OF THE YEAR?
Mama Don’t Take My Chromophobia Away
Pantone’s 2026 Color of the Year is selling us a white fantasy.
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Can the Internet Be Saved?
After troubleshooting Tim Berners-Lee’s memoir, it becomes clear that the internet’s flaws were there from the start.
A Building Inside a Building [VIDEO]
A tour of the new Jean Nouvel–designed Fondation Cartier museum and its inaugural exhibition.
Shame Never Works
In a new Archive post, Noemí Fierros scoops a second helping of discourse on ‘Feast: True Love in and out of the Kitchen’ by Hannah Howard.
Lauren Groff's 'Brawler'
Lauren Groff joins the podcast to talk about her new short story collection 'Brawler,' her approach to story writing, and more
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SILVER SCREEN
The End of Cinema?
Amid cinema’s decline, two new books by A. S. Hamrah resist defeatism.
BETA MODE
Making a Literary Future with Artificial Intelligence
Five writers and AI researchers discuss the future of literature.
THE INDUSTRY
A Cyberpunk Blueprint for Hollywood’s AI Dreams
Revisiting Pat Cadigan’s 1991 novel “Synners” in light of dystopian developments in Los Angeles.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE
The End of Psychiatry (Kind Of)
Neurologist Pria Anand lauds Khameer Kidia’s new dissection of Western psychiatric imperialism.
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Latest
It Really Can Happen Here
What the transnational links among fascist movements in the 1930s can tell us about the Far Right today.
Davos Mann
A new book on ‘The Magic Mountain’ grapples with the contradictions of history.
Bill Callahan’s Vita Nuova
On his latest album, the singer-songwriter explores themes of fatherhood, time, and forgiveness.
LARB Staff’s Book Favorites
LARB's editors pick their best reads of 2025, and what their favorite books from the year were.
Sweating It Out
The history of experiencing life as a sweaty body in steamy queer spaces.
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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.
You Say You Want a Revolution
Should historians look at violent revolutions with rose-colored glasses while vindicating the terror that carried them forth?
Social Mobility and Stagnation
How the university entrance exam and residency permits structure life for in China.
Incredible Prophecies, Sick Truths
Oedipal iterations, from Sophocles to Arundhati Roy.
Have Democrats Learned Anything?
Was Nevada Democrat Harry Reid truly a master of the Senate, or at least a game changer, as Jon Ralston’s new biography argues?
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Vantage Points
Long-form views on literature, art, and experience from LARB’s online magazine and print Quarterly.
I Was a Punk for the FBI
Brian James Schill speaks with the founders of ‘Punk’ magazine on its 50th anniversary about whether they were surveilled by the feds.
Opera (and Comics) Against Fascism
Exploring how the graphic novel ‘Death Strikes’ intersects with the modernist opera ‘Der Kaiser von Atlantis,’ a work composed by Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust.
Cut Gems
Asha Schechter documents the experience of retouching precious gems, in an essay from LARB Quarterly no. 47: ‘Security.’
Hold Me Too Close
Writer-director Bradley Cooper’s ‘evangelizing’ new film ‘Is This Thing On?’ explores human connection in marriage and stand-up comedy.
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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
Namwali Serpell's 'On Morrison'
Novelist and critic Namwali Serpell joins the podcast to discuss her latest book, 'On Morrison. '
Richard Hell's 'Godlike'
Richard Hell joins the podcast to speak about the reissue of his novel 'Godlike'
Kristin Ross's 'The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life'
Kristin Ross talks about her book, The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life, and political transformation and cultural representation in an archive episode.
Hamza Walker’s 'Monuments' and Senga Nengudi’s 'Populated Air'
Co-curator of MOCA's Monuments exhibit Hamza Walker and Senga Nengudi join the podcast to talk about their respective art projects, history, and more.
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The LARB Quarterly
LARB Quarterly, no. 48: 15th Anniversary Issue
The LARB Quarterly no. 48, our 15th Anniversary Issue, is an anthology curated from over 16,000 pieces published over LARB’s lifetime. The collection is not meant to be exhaustive, or the “best of the best,” but rather representative of a certain LARBiness—that combination of critical attention and Los Angeles ease.
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