Reviews Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Reviews

Science’s Freedom Fighters
Any process of designing science, with its complex suite of methods, funding structures, laboratories, and so forth, is inherently political.
W. Patrick McCrayNov 18, 2018
The Polish Predicament
John Connelly reviews "Catholics on the Barricades: Poland, France, and 'Revolution,' 1891-1956."
John ConnellyNov 18, 2018
Obsessive Derring-Do
On David Grann's "The White Darkness."
Howard SchneiderNov 17, 2018
- Nonfiction
Hide-and-Seek Amid the Ruins
A mixed-media quest to recover one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Paul MaziarNov 17, 2018
The Limits of Language in a Surrealist Age: Sabrina Orah Mark’s “Wild Milk”
Michael Valinsky drinks in Sabrina Orah Mark’s debut story collection “Wild Milk.”
Michael ValinskyNov 16, 2018
- Fiction
M Is for Mother
Kate Martin Rowe reads Kim Adrian's glossary-memoir of her mother's mental illness, "The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet."
Kate Martin RoweNov 16, 2018
- Memoir & Essay
All of Life Is Creation: Jack Kerouac’s Art
A catalog of oils, watercolors, and pencil sketches by the Beat luminary.
Stuart WaltonNov 15, 2018
- Art & Architecture
Joshua Cohen Confronts the New National Deficit in “ATTENTION: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction”
Jessi Jezewska Stevens declares Joshua Cohen’s “ATTENTION: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction” “brilliant, frustrating, searching, and sad.”
Jessi Jezewska StevensNov 15, 2018
- Memoir & Essay
“A Republic or a Monarchy?” A Citizen’s Guide to Impeachment
Should Donald Trump be impeached? Stephen Rohde reads Cass Sunstein to find out.
Stephen RohdeNov 15, 2018
- Law
- Politics
Once Upon a Time in Los Angeles: Kathryn Harrison’s “On Sunset”
Dinah Lenney journeys through “On Sunset,” a new memoir by Kathryn Harrison.
Dinah LenneyNov 14, 2018
- Memoir & Essay
The World Is Not Enough
Jason Barker reviews "A World to Win: The Life and Works of Karl Marx."
Jason BarkerNov 14, 2018
Remember to Forget: Patrick Modiano’s “Sleep of Memory”
Patrick Modiano's "Sleep of Memory" manages to attach a feeling not just of unease but of genuine terror to the past.
Thomas J. MillayNov 13, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
The Million Trumps of India
India’s business class of the future is already displaying some of capitalism’s worst features.
Gary SinghNov 13, 2018
- Around the World
- Politics
You Can Read (and So Can This Computer)
Sheila Liming reviews Andrew Piper’s “Enumerations: Data and Literary Study.”
Sheila LimingNov 12, 2018
- Literary Criticism
- Science & Technology
The Most Powerful Person in Hollywood Without a Studio
The most powerful man in Hollywood didn’t make movies. He was a shady journalist.
Chris YogerstNov 11, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Politics
Fraught with Peril: On Lucia Berlin’s “Evening in Paradise” and “Welcome Home”
Ryan Smernoff greets the publication of “Evening in Paradise: More Stories” and “Welcome Home” by Lucia Berlin.
Ryan SmernoffNov 11, 2018
- Fiction
- Memoir & Essay