Archive

What Custom Had Strictly Divided: On Kira Thurman’s “Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms”
A richly detailed history of the African American legacy in European orchestral music.
Olivia GiovettiFeb 7, 2022
- Music
Protected Children, Regulated Mothers: A Conversation with Eszter Varsa
A social historian of gender on child protection policy in Stalinist Hungary.
M. BunaFeb 6, 2022
- History
My Obsession with Finding Home Was Tied to My Foster Mother’s
Nicole Johnson writes about her relationship with her foster mother and eventually finding her own adult home.
Nicole JohnsonFeb 6, 2022
- Nonfiction
“The Turner Diaries” and Pulp Fascism
How "The Turner Diaries" resembles classics of SF past.
Noah BerlatskyFeb 5, 2022
- SF
Cocaine on the Brain
Jervey TervalonFeb 5, 2022
Weaving Words: The Magic of Diana Wynne Jones
Henrietta Wilson and Lydia Wilson survey the young adult fiction of Diana Wynne Jones.
Henrietta Wilson, Lydia WilsonFeb 5, 2022
- Young Adult & Children’s Literature
“What Is Old Can Sometimes Feel New”: A Conversation with Andre Bagoo
The Trinidadian author on the ambivalent legacy of V. S. Naipaul and the challenge of depicting a queer Caribbean.
Stephen NarainFeb 4, 2022
- Around the World
Francesco Pacifico’s “The Women I Love”
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher and joined by Italian author Francesco Pacifico to discuss his latest novel, “The Women I Love,” translated by Elizabeth Harris.
LARB Radio HourFeb 4, 2022
Only Odessa: On Ian Ross Singleton’s “Two Big Differences”
Herb Randall finds much to like in “Two Big Differences,” a novel by Ian Ross Singleton.
Herb RandallFeb 4, 2022
- Fiction
Books for Biden: Reading Recommendations Linked to “Global China in an Anxious Age” (UC Irvine, February 25–26)
Jeffrey Wasserstrom and three participants in an upcoming event at UC Irvine recommend essential books on China to President Biden.
Jeffrey WasserstromFeb 4, 2022
The Descent of Autofiction … and the Rise of the Literary Thrill-Seeking Industrial Complex
Autofiction and new narrative are booming, thanks to a host of innovative writers and presses.
Jack SkelleyFeb 4, 2022
- Fiction
Confederate Dunces: On Percival Everett’s “The Trees”
A comic condemnation of white racism with a Twainian level of wit and meanness.
Mary F. CoreyFeb 3, 2022
- Fiction
55 Voices for Democracy: Claus Leggewie on New Political Alliances
Claus Leggewie delivers a lecture as part of “55 Voices for Democracy.”
Claus LeggewieFeb 3, 2022
A Necessary, Hazardous Calling: On Judith Mackrell’s “The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World War II”
A well-crafted true story of female journalists reporting from the front lines.
Stephanie GortonFeb 3, 2022
- Biography & Autobiography
Magical Thinking: On Mikhail Epstein’s Expansive History of Recent Russian Thought
Josh Billings surveys Mikhail Epstein’s monumental survey of late and post-Soviet thinkers.
Josh BillingsFeb 2, 2022
- Philosophy & Religion
Deadline “Ulysses”
How James Joyce completed his great novel by his 40th birthday.
Philip Keel GeheberFeb 2, 2022
- Literary Criticism