History

"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history." — George Bernard Shaw

A Cohort of One’s Own
Frances Lazare considers the friendships and fights of "The Equivalents" by Maggie Doherty and "No Modernism Without Lesbians" by Diana Souhami.
Frances LazareOct 9, 2020
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
Charisma: Now You’ve Got It, Now You Don’t
A rich and rewarding study of political leadership in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Robert ZaretskyOct 6, 2020
- History
- Politics
What Makes “A People’s History”?
Hannah Zeavin examines the critical possibilities of the “people’s history.”
Hannah ZeavinOct 6, 2020
Remapping White Childhood: On Fresno Redlining
Nathan Hensley on the machinery of white unknowing.
Nathan K. HensleyOct 5, 2020
- History
- Politics
An Obscure Road to Hollywood
A republication of Philippe Garnier’s 1996 book on screenwriters in 1930s Hollywood.
Woody HautOct 4, 2020
Harm’s Way: On “Katrina,” Disaster, and America’s Possible Future
Andru Okun reviews “Katrina, A History 1915–2015,” a new book by Andy Horowitz.
Andru OkunOct 1, 2020
- History
- Politics
Ordinary Courage: A Conversation with Laurel Leff
Laurel Leff discusses her new book about how American universities responded to the Holocaust.
Joy HorowitzSep 30, 2020
- History
- Politics
Reclaiming “Populism”: On Thomas Frank’s “The People, No”
L. Benjamin Rolsky reviews Thomas Frank’s new book, “The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism.”
L. Benjamin RolskySep 29, 2020
- History
- Politics
Koba: An Excerpt from Ronald Grigor Suny’s “Stalin: Passage to Revolution”
LARB presents an excerpt from “Stalin: Passage to Revolution” by Ronald Grigor Suny.
Ronald Grigor SunySep 28, 2020
How to Live Through the Apocalypse
Barbara Kiser extols two remarkable books offering two very different ways of surviving our perfect storm of crises.
Barbara KiserSep 28, 2020
“American Rule” Is Almost Revolutionary
A book diagnosing all of America’s troubles is compelling but doesn’t look at the whole picture.
Paige WelshSep 27, 2020
- History
- Politics