The Monthly Digest: January 2020

As we greet the new year and enter the second decade of LARB’s existence, we honor our annual tradition: our own version of the People’s Choice Awards. Below are the 15 most popular articles to have appeared on our site in 2019. As usual, it is the great diversity of topics represented in the list that gratifies us most. We thank you, dear readers, for inspiring us to think ever more creatively, and we vow to keep broadening our horizons in the years and decades to come! — LARB Editorial

Pinker’s Pollyannish Philosophy and Its Perfidious Politics
Jessica Riskin challenges Steven Pinker’s take on the Enlightenment.
Jessica RiskinDec 15, 2019
Walter Benjamin’s Last Work
Samantha Rose Hill considers the continent-spanning turmoil that has marked the publication of Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History."
Samantha Rose HillDec 9, 2019
- Philosophy & Religion
Is There a Crisis of Truth?
Historian of Science Steven Shapin turns the screw on the notion that “truth” is in crisis.
Steven ShapinDec 2, 2019
- Philosophy & Religion
- Science & Technology
Who Needs Literature?
LARB presents an essay by Isaac Bashevis Singer, translated from the Yiddish by David Stromberg.
Isaac Bashevis SingerNov 11, 2019
- Around the World
- Literary Criticism
Motion Sickness: Disavowing “Succession”
Jorge Cotte explores the queasy, wobbly, ethically ambiguous experience of being close to the billionaire children of HBO's Succession.
Jorge CotteOct 24, 2019
- Television
Benjamin Moser and the Smallest Woman in the World
Magdalena Edwards tells of her experience with Benjamin Moser, author of the forthcoming “Sontag: Her Life and Work.”
Magdalena EdwardsAug 16, 2019
- Around the World
- Biography & Autobiography
Game of Thrones: Season 8, "The Bells"
For Dear Television, Aaron Bady, Sarah Mesle, and Phil Maciak consider the relative madness of the queen(s) on Game of Thrones.
Aaron Bady, Phillip Maciak, Sarah MesleMay 13, 2019
- Dear Television
The Singular Power of Writing: A Conversation with Thomas Chatterton Williams
Otis Houston speaks to Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of “Losing My Cool” and “Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race.”
Otis HoustonApr 12, 2019
LACMA: Suicide by Architecture
Joseph Giovannini scrutinizes LACMA director Michael Govan's failures and deceptions surrounding the museum's renovations.
Joseph GiovanniniApr 5, 2019
- Art & Architecture
The Final Treasure from the Tolkien Hoard
Christopher Tolkien wraps up a four-decade curation of his father’s legacy.
Nick OwcharMar 23, 2019
- SF
A Deeper South
A road trip through the Old South reveals uncomfortable family truths.
Pete CandlerMar 10, 2019
Kompromat: Or, Revelations from the Unpublished Portions of Andrea Manafort’s Hacked Texts
In 2016 or early 2017, Paul Manafort’s 32-year-old daughter’s cell phone was hacked. What do the texts reveal, and why aren't we talking about them?
Maya GurantzFeb 18, 2019
- Nonfiction
- Politics
Comping White
Laura B. McGrath looks at the data to find out why the publishing industry is still so white.
Laura B. McGrathJan 21, 2019
- Fiction
- Science & Technology
Thieves of Experience: How Google and Facebook Corrupted Capitalism
Whatever its imperfections, Shoshana Zuboff's "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" is an original and brilliant work, and it arrives at a crucial moment.
Nicholas CarrJan 15, 2019
The Vanishing Indians of “These Truths”
A popular history of the United States has a notable omission.
Christine DeLuciaJan 10, 2019
- History
- Politics
On Outgrowing David Foster Wallace
"Why does David Foster Wallace read differently to me now? Why am I ashamed of him? Maybe his work is limited in ways I didn’t see before." A DFW guy writes
Julius TarantoSep 15, 2018
- Fiction