Fighting the Unprecedented ‘Proletarianization’ of the Human Mind

Leonid Bilmes / Los Angeles Review of Books Nov 15, 2019 In analyzing today’s politico-economic malaise, philosopher Bernard Stiegler uncovers how digital technology threatens the human spirit. Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )

Can Literature Really Be an Agent of Political Resistance?

Keegan Cook Finberg / Los Angeles Review of Books Sep 27, 2019 In her latest book, Juliana Spahr explores what radical literature has done to challenge forms of nationalism in the U.S. and reaches a disappointing conclusion. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Resisting a World That Privileges Whiteness—While We Still Can

Renee Hudson / Los Angeles Review of Books Sep 13, 2019 As Latinx authors contend with Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric, their work has become a site of resistance, of hope, of sorrow. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Our Last Shot at Democracy

By Lida Maxwell / Los Angeles Review of Books Jul 19, 2019 In her paradigm-shifting book, Astra Taylor advocates for a new kind of citizenship that reimagines democratic thinking from the ground up. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

The Chronic Illness Killing Generations of Men

By Josh Cook / Los Angeles Review of Books Jul 5, 2019 Jared Yates Sexton traces the roots of “toxic masculinity” running through his life back to WWII, and charts a hopeful path forward. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

The Danger of Poeticizing Horror While Bearing Witness

By Helen Mackreath / Los Angeles Review of Books Jun 21, 2019 Carolyn Forché grapples with what constitutes “poetry of witness” in a memoir about El Salvador on the brink of civil war in the late 1970s. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

The 500-Year-Long Battle to Save the Planet

Debra Utacia Krol / Los Angeles Review of Books May 24, 2019 Dina Gilio-Whitaker’s book is a primer on the Native American environmental movement and a chronicle of fighting government and corporate power. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

What Europe Needs Is a New Revolution

By Jason Barker / Los Angeles Review of Books May 10, 2019 Decrying neoliberal capitalism’s “slow cancellation of the future” in his new book, Srećko Horvat advocates “hope without optimism.” Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )

The Hypocrisy of ‘Living Happily’ Through All Our Wars

Will Brewbaker / Los Angeles Review of Books Mar 27, 2019 While reading "Deaf Republic," we would be wise to join poet Ilya Kaminsky in owning our failures—political, personal or otherwise. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Ending the American Tragedy of Mass Incarceration

By Richard Blaustein / LARB Feb 2, 2019 The book “Start Here” yields a vision for a future United States that will not stand out for its distressing criminal justice system. Dig deeper ( 9 Min. Read )