Reviews Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

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Desperate to Connect
Jung Yun reviews “The Lost Prayers of Ricky Graves” by James Han Mattson.
Jung YunJan 5, 2018
- Noir
Kind of Human
Timothy Morton’s latest book, "Humankind," is meant as an intervention of epochal scale.
Ted HamiltonJan 4, 2018
- Philosophy & Religion
- Politics
High Hitler
Hitler and the Nazis were taking methamphetamine and opiates. But their biggest drug was still the ideology.
Anthony MostromJan 3, 2018
- History
Writing Lives: James Atlas on the Art of Biography
James Atlas chronicles the pleasures and perils of literary biography.
John TytellJan 3, 2018
- Biography & Autobiography
- Memoir & Essay
Shuck the Police: Are We Done with Traditional Law Enforcement?
The science of keeping public order is moving in two directions: computer-enhanced supercoverage and a retreat from the spaces that police used to dominate.
Adam GreenfieldJan 2, 2018
- Politics
Framing 1966: Jon Savage on the Year the 1960s Exploded
Scott Timberg takes a spin through “1966: The Year the Decade Exploded” by Jon Savage.
Scott TimbergJan 1, 2018
- History
- Music
The Great Attention Heist
A new book on how attention became a commodity.
John Bell, John ZadaJan 1, 2018
- Politics
- Science & Technology
Words That Speak of What Is Human: On Mireille Gansel’s “Translation as Transhumance”
On how Mireille Gansel guides us.
Dec 31, 2017
- Around the World
- Memoir & Essay
We Have More in Common Than We Know
To read "Translation as Transhumance" is to transhume with Mireille Gansel as she cultivates a multidimensional understanding of language.
Emily LaBargeDec 31, 2017
- Around the World
- Memoir & Essay
Lyrical Oblivion: László Krasznahorkai’s “The World Goes On”
Nicky Loomis follows the winding sentences of László Krasznahorkai's "The World Goes On."
Nicky LoomisDec 29, 2017
- Around the World
- Fiction
John Green’s Anxieties: On “Turtles All the Way Down”
Jonathan Alexander on John Green's new novel.
Jonathan AlexanderDec 28, 2017
- Young Adult & Children’s Literature
From Conflict to Dialogue and All the Way Back
Peter Harrison considers Yves Gingras's "Science and Religion: An Impossible Dialogue."
Peter HarrisonDec 27, 2017
The Oak, the Oakling, and the Cellar Book: A Fête of Fadimans
Heather Altfeld savors Anne Fadiman's "The Wine Lover’s Daughter."
Heather AltfeldDec 26, 2017
- Memoir & Essay
Stealing Memories: On Anders Rydell’s “The Book Thieves”
Ashley Valanzola is captivated by “The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance” by Anders Rydell.
Ashley ValanzolaDec 26, 2017
- Around the World
- History
“Où sont les neiges d’antan?”: On “Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky”
Alexis Levitin contemplates “Russian Émigré Short Stories from Bunin to Yanovsky,” edited by Bryan Karetnyk.
Alexis LevitinDec 25, 2017
- Around the World
- Fiction
In Which Lou Norton Takes on a Mega-Church
Rob Latham reviews “City of Saviors” by Rachel Howzell Hall.
Rob LathamDec 24, 2017
- Noir