Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Haunted in Bucharest: fathoming my mother’s homeland by talking to its writers
The author looks through Romania's literary history for a better understanding of the country’s story – as well as his own family's.
Paul MandelbaumSep 9, 2012
Reading in Prison: 'The Art of War' as Survival Guide
Michael KrikorianSep 9, 2012
Dispatches from the Democratic National Convention: Part II
Concluding Commentary
Kelly CandaeleSep 7, 2012
Mythmaking in Dawson City: A Nepali Searches for Canadianness
Falling under the strange spell of a Canadian tradition.
Manjushree ThapaSep 7, 2012
Dispatches from the Democratic National Convention: Part I
Interviews with John Heilemann, E.J. Dionne, Sean Wilentz and Rep. John Lewis
Kelly CandaeleSep 6, 2012
In Praise of Messy Thinking: On Katie Roiphe
Navel-gazing with a social purpose
Sep 4, 2012
How to Read Žižek
Adam KotskoSep 2, 2012
Levine y yo: In Praise of Poet Philip Levine
On the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet
Christopher BuckleySep 2, 2012
A Guide to Isaac Bashevis Singer
On the Nobel Prize-winning Yiddish patriarch and his moral universe of piety and outrage...
Sep 1, 2012
What Went Wrong At Marikana?
The massacre of 34 striking miners in South Africa
Alex LichtensteinSep 1, 2012
Jumping the Dragon Gate: Life in Shaoyang
I lived in Shaoyang, a city in Hunan province famous for clementines and murder.
Nick HoldstockAug 30, 2012
Werner Herzog Hypnotizes Chickens
On the director's enigmatic obsessions.
Aug 28, 2012
The Mormon Chronicles: A Meditation in Four Parts
Judith FreemanAug 26, 2012
My Sea: A Personal Journey through the Literature of the Salton Sea
Gayle BrandeisAug 26, 2012
Day-Old Baby Rats
The late 'New Yorker' writer's short story masterpiece
Aug 26, 2012
The Mormon Candidate
Mitt Romney has described his faith as “the single most important influence in his life.” He did not go into details.
Laurie WinerAug 26, 2012