The Monthly Digest: May 2018

In April LARB published a number of pieces at the intersection of art, politics, and religion. The pieces below tackle questions of religious violence, Islamophobia and Judeophobia, comedy and satire, the weight of history and memory, and cultural representation and exploitation in the art world. — LARB Editorial

Serious Laughing Matter: Bassem Youssef on Comedy and the Arab Spring
Orly Minazad speaks to newly LA-based Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef, author of “Revolution for Dummies: Laughing Through the Arab Spring.”
Orly MinazadApr 24, 2018
- Around the World
- Politics
“Living in the Shadows of the Dead”: Cathy Otten’s “With Ash on Their Faces”
Cathy Otten’s new book tells the tragic story of the Yezidi women taken captive by ISIS.
Ryan BoydApr 16, 2018
Laughing in the Dark: On J. R. Pick’s “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”
A. M. Bakalar reviews “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” a novella by J. R. Pick, translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker.
A. M. BakalarApr 15, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction
The Art of Nameless Violence
"At the moment, it seems as if only Muslim countries in whose wars the West is involved can produce artists for the global market."
Faisal DevjiApr 11, 2018
The Surprising Roots of Recent White Extremism
On Kathleen Belew's "Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America."
Joseph DardaApr 9, 2018
- History
- Politics
Inventing the Pogrom: Assigning Meaning to the Kishinev Massacre
How the word “pogrom” became one of the surprisingly few Russian words that have ever made it into English.
Jack MilesApr 9, 2018
- History
- Religion
“Weapons Not of the Weak, but of the Strong”: On Nikolay Koposov’s “Memory Laws, Memory Wars: The Politics of the Past in Europe and Russia”
Douglas Smith on “Memory Laws, Memory Wars,” by Nikolay Koposov, which “makes clear the dangers in trying to legislate our understanding of the past.”
Douglas SmithApr 8, 2018
- History
- Law
Liberation Utopias: Houria Bouteldja on Feminism, Anti-Semitism, and the Politics of Decolonization
A book that demystifies the fairy tales France tells about itself.
Ben RatskoffApr 5, 2018
- Gender & Sexuality
- Philosophy & Religion
Histories of Violence: Violence and the Art of the Political
Brad Evans speaks with political theorist Michael J. Shapiro. A conversation in Brad Evans’s “Histories of Violence” series.
Brad EvansApr 2, 2018
- Art & Architecture
- Histories of Violence
The Death Drive Revisited: On Olivier Roy’s “Jihad and Death”
"Jihad and Death" is a remarkable work of analysis that is spilling over with insights and well worth engaging.
Suzanne SchneiderApr 2, 2018
- Politics
- Religion
Always the Haunting Sound of a Train: On Filip David’s “The House of Remembering and Forgetting”
Eileen Battersby is ravished by “The House of Remembering and Forgetting,” a new novel by Filip David, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić.
Eileen BattersbyApr 1, 2018
- Around the World
- Fiction