Cultural Studies

"Culture is an instrument wielded by professors to manufacture professors." — Simone Weil

Stanley Crouch, Radical Pragmatist
The death of Stanley Crouch leaves America’s intellectual culture less interesting, less imaginative, and, above all else, less artful.
David MasciotraOct 18, 2020
“American Psycho,” “American Beauty,” “American Pie”: White Male Rage at the Turn of the Millennium
Chelsea Davis puts three films from 2000 in context with the institutionalized support of white, male rage and “aggrieved entitlement.”
Chelsea DavisOct 14, 2020
The Great Unread: On William Deresiewicz’s “The Death of the Artist”
Robert Diab on William Deresiewicz’s new book, “The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech.”
Robert DiabOct 13, 2020
“Retreat” and the Sick World
Madeline Lane-McKinley reviews "Retreat: How the Counterculture Invented Wellness," the recently published book by Matthew Ingram.
Madeline Lane-McKinleyOct 11, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- Politics
Truths Too Terrible: On Arthur Schnitzler and Franz Kafka
LARB presents an excerpt from Adam Kirsch’s “The Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century.”
Adam KirschOct 8, 2020
Why Look at Flying Saucers?
On the trail of bigfoot hunters and UFO enthusiasts.
Benjamin Aldes WurgaftOct 7, 2020
- Cultural Studies
What We Talk About When We Talk About Magical Realism
Fernando Sdrigotti seeks to break Latin American writers free from the magical realism pigeonhole.
Fernando SdrigottiOct 2, 2020
The Great Anti-Left Show
Right-wing media defines itself by a caricature of what they’re against.
Anthony NadlerOct 2, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- Politics
We Had Witnessed an Exhibition: On Thomas Doherty’s “Little Lindy Is Kidnapped”
Chris Yogerst reviews Thomas Doherty’s cultural history of the Lindbergh kidnapping.
Chris YogerstSep 24, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- History
“He Drank It Black”: On Dinah Lenney’s “Coffee”
Markman Ellis soaks up “Coffee,” a “fluid, involving” object lesson by Dinah Lenney.
Markman EllisSep 16, 2020
- Cultural Studies
- Memoir & Essay
The Nature Scam
Mark Trecka reviews "Natural: How Faith in Nature’s Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science," the new book from Alan Levinovitz.
Mark TreckaSep 16, 2020
Memory in Crisis: On Judith Schalansky’s “An Inventory of Losses”
A catalog of lost objects raises questions about history and memory in our age of mass protest.
Fiona BellSep 13, 2020