Nonfiction

"There is nothing more poetic and terrible than the skyscrapers' battle with the heavens that cover them." — Federico García Lorca

Notes on Disappearing: A Life in Fragments
Veronica Gonzalez Peña explores fragmented memories of a childhood, in light of the 2014 murder of 43 Mexican students, in a story from the LARB Quarterly issue no. 42, “Gossip.”
Veronica Gonzalez PeñaAug 30, 2024
The Worst Sect of People
Sheila McClear reviews “Men Have Called Her Crazy,” a supposed tell-all memoir by Anna Marie Tendler.
Sheila McClearAug 17, 2024
TrimSpa, Baby
Emmeline Clein recounts an “American Icarus story” spelled out in diet pills and rhinestones in an essay from the LARB Quarterly issue no. 42, “Gossip.”
Emmeline CleinAug 13, 2024
We’re a Team, Not a Family
Michael Eby reviews “Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality” by Benjamin Shestakofsky.
Michael EbyAug 5, 2024
- Nonfiction
- Economics and Finance
Antisemitism Studies and the War Against the Imagination
Safa Khatib considers theories of Judaism, antisemitism, Zionism, and anti-Zionism in her review of “Critical Theories of Anti-Semitism” by Jonathan Judaken.
Safa KhatibAug 4, 2024
Through “The Looking Glass”
Mikaela Dery reviews Sable Yong’s “Die Hot with a Vengeance: Essays on Vanity.”
Mikaela DeryAug 4, 2024
- Nonfiction
- Cultural Studies
Straining Nation or Expansionist Empire?
Benno Weiner reviews Edward Wong’s “At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China.”
Benno WeinerAug 3, 2024
Egyptian Factories, Sichuan Schools, and the Unfilled Promises of Globalization
Adam Minter reviews Leslie Chang’s “Egyptian Made” and Peter Hessler’s “Other Rivers.”
Adam MinterJul 31, 2024
Words Versus Words, Fire with Fire
Chris Featherman considers the crafting of global warming and environmental crisis narratives in his review of “The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It” by Genevieve Guenther.
Chris FeathermanJul 30, 2024
Chinese Production, American Consumption
Kate Merkel-Hess explores the convergence of economy and politics in the Sino-US relationship via Jonathan Chatwin’s “The Southern Tour” and Elizabeth O’Brien Ingleson’s “Made in China.”
Kate Merkel-HessJul 28, 2024
- History
- Nonfiction
The All-Too-Human Flesh of It
A look at the South’s racial bias is not completely free of bias itself, says Bill Thompson, reviewing Pete Candler’s “A Deeper South.”
Bill ThompsonJul 26, 2024
Lush, Reciprocal Entanglements
Manjula Martin explores the hidden costs and radical potential of humanity’s enduring hobby in Olivia Laing’s “The Garden Against Time.”
Manjula MartinJul 25, 2024