Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

The Melancholy Muse: Mylene Fernández Pintado on Stories, Sentinels, and Staying in Cuba
Mylene Fernández Pintado has established herself as a literary guardian of Cuba.
Jun 20, 2015
The Holy City: Charleston, A Remembrance
Poet DéLana R.A. Dameron responds to the Charleston shooting.
DéLana R.A. DameronJun 19, 2015
- Poetry
Mendez on “Mendez”: High School Students in Boyle Heights Write About the Desegregation Case After Which Their School Is Named
The students of Mendez High School in Boyle Heights write a book about the influential but little-known school desegregation case after which their school is named.
Scott DoyleJun 18, 2015
- Education
- Politics
Game of Thrones: Season 5, "Mother's Mercy"
What Happened and What Should Have Happened
Sarah MesleJun 18, 2015
- Dear Television
The Allegory of “India’s Daughter”
In the two months since its release and ban by the Indian government, "India’s Daughter," has become the latest lynchpin in a decades-old debate about Western representations of India.
Ragini Tharoor SrinivasanJun 17, 2015
- Film
Violent Boycotts and the BDS Movement
BDS strategy is an attempt to take Israelis’ freedom of speech hostage, and to use this hostage in order to put pressure on the Israeli government.
Omri BoehmJun 16, 2015
- Cultural Studies
- Politics
A Roomful of Half-Bagged, Semi-Literate Knuckle-Draggers
On “Noir at the Bar,” a Community of Crime Fiction Writers
Jen ConleyJun 15, 2015
- Noir
The Denunciation of Vanessa Place
Vanessa Place has been doing challenging work on racism, or “racist work,” depending on whom you ask, for years.
Kim CalderJun 14, 2015
- Poetry
It’s a Mistake to Mistake Content for Content
My experience with Feldman indicates how, in a time when cultural artifacts are abundantly available, our primary focus has migrated from use to acquisition.
Jun 14, 2015
They Shoot Old Film Stars on TV, Don’t They?
In Netflix's "Grace and Frankie," about two older women whose husbands come out as gay, the true queer relationship is that of the two women.
Nathan SmithJun 11, 2015
- Television
Tourism Is Forever
Goldeneye traces the role Fleming’s home in Jamaica played not only in the creation of James Bond, but also in Fleming’s own relationship to his British identity.
Sheri-Marie HarrisonJun 9, 2015
- Film
The Fight for Frogtown
Development, Displacement, and Gentrification in Los Angeles
Molly StraussJun 8, 2015
- Politics
Marginal Millennials
Are young people capable of serving as citizens in an open society, where free and open discourse is the operational sine qua non?
Stuart WhatleyJun 6, 2015
- Politics
The Hoodie and the Hijab: Arabness, Blackness, and the Figure of Terror
James Baldwin would not be surprised that the hoodie has become a symbol of racial terror and racial violence after 9/11.
Leah MirakhorJun 6, 2015
- Cultural Studies
Outspoken: Quiet Lightning and the Generation of Literature
Quiet Lightning is a nonprofit literary organization, a submission-based reading series, a publisher, a film producer, a bi-annual magazine, a book and film contest, and the initiator of a yearlong ekphrastic project.
Peter BullenJun 2, 2015
- Memoir & Essay
A View from Alcatraz: For Ahmed Douma
Since September 2014, Alcatraz has been home to an exciting new exhibition by renowned contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.
Annie BuckleyJun 2, 2015
- Art & Architecture
- Politics