The Monthly Digest: November 2017

A hundred years have passed since the Bolshevik Revolution. Throughout 2017, LARB’s editors and contributors have been contemplating “revolution,” in all the word’s myriad senses. The summer’s issue of the LARB Quarterly Journal was dedicated to the theme, and this past month we’ve run a good number of reviews, essays, and interviews on revolutions of the political, social, artistic, linguistic, and personal varieties. Some of those pieces are featured below. — LARB Editorial

Reading Audre Lorde’s “Sister Outsider” After Charlottesville
Antoinette Nwandu reads “Sister Outsider” by Audre Lorde after Charlottesville.
Antoinette NwanduOct 30, 2017
- Memoir & Essay
- Politics
Protest and Precincts
Walking the precinct versus marching in the streets: how does each move the needle?
Kelly CandaeleOct 30, 2017
- Politics
Rethinking Infidelity: Skye C. Cleary Interviews Esther Perel
Skye C. Cleary talks to renowned therapist Esther Perel about her new book, "The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity."
Skye C. ClearyOct 28, 2017
- Cultural Studies
No Fences Make the Best Neighbors: Collective Home Ownership, Kibbutz to Cohousing
Bonnie Johnson looks at intentional communities and asks: just how communal are they?
Bonnie JohnsonOct 25, 2017
- Art & Architecture
- Cultural Studies
The Party’s Over: Looking Back on Communism
Patrick Iber reviews two new books on communism and its aftermath.
Patrick IberOct 24, 2017
- Around the World
- History
Our National Scream: On Jared Yates Sexton’s “The People Are Going to Rise Like Waters Upon Your Shore”
Jared Yates Sexton’s new book on the Trump phenomena is keenly observed — but without the necessary questions.
Blake MorlockOct 20, 2017
- Politics
A Magnetic and Complicated Personality
A review of Harvey Sachs’s new biography of Arturo Toscanini.
Simon WilliamsOct 19, 2017
- Biography & Autobiography
- Music
The Ins and Outs of Europe’s Deep Establishment
Stan Persky looks at Yanis Varoufakis's "Adults in the Room," the memoir of Varoufakis's brief tenure as Greece’s minister of finance in 2015.
Stan PerskyOct 17, 2017
Gender Matters at the Toronto International Film Festival
Patricia White on several of the female-directed films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, including "Lady Bird," "Euphoria," and "Zama."
Patricia WhiteOct 12, 2017
- Film
- Gender & Sexuality
How Skiffle Changed the World: A Conversation with Billy Bragg
Scott Timberg interviews singer-songwriter Billy Bragg about his new book, “Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World.”
Scott TimbergOct 8, 2017
- History
- Music
Responsibility in Troubling Times: On “Heather Booth: Changing the World”
Kathleen B. Jones speaks to filmmaker Lilly Rivlin about her latest documentary, “Heather Booth: Changing the World.”
Kathleen B. JonesOct 7, 2017
I Am Something That You’ll Never Comprehend: Remembering Prince
Sara Scribner considers three books that try to get at the essence of Prince.
Sara ScribnerOct 6, 2017
Down with the English Language!
Colin Marshall looks at books by Minae Mizumura and Aamir R. Mufti that lament the rise of global English.
Colin MarshallOct 5, 2017
- Around the World
- Cultural Studies
After Strange Gods: Modernist Blasphemy Revisited
A new study of blasphemy in modernist literature.
Imogen WoodberryOct 5, 2017
- Literary Criticism
- Religion
No Revolution Without the International: An Interview with Dmitry Bykov
Sasha Razor interviews the Russian polymath Dmitry Bykov.
Sasha RazorOct 3, 2017