Scott McLemee is an essayist, critic, and digital feuilletonist (rather like being a blogger, only it sounds more distinguished somehow).
In 2008, he began a three-year term on the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle. From 1995 until 2001, he was contributing editor for Lingua Franca. Between 2001 and 2005, he covered scholarship in the humanities as senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education. In 2005, he helped start the online news journal Inside Higher Ed, where he serves as Essayist at Large, writing a weekly column called Intellectual Affairs. His reviews, essays, and interviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Nation, Newsday, Bookforum, The Common Review, and numerous other publications. In 2004, he received the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle. He has given papers or been an invited speaker at meetings of the American Political Science Association, the Cultural Studies Association, the Modern Language Association, and the Organization of American Historians. A selection of his work is available at his website. He is also a member of two group blogs, Crooked Timber and Cliopatria.
Most Recent Articles
February 3, 2010
Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, died last week. Scott McLemee salutes a voice of dissent.
January 27, 2010
The Haiti crisis did not start with the earthquake. Scott McLemee interviews the founder of The Caribbean Review of Books.
January 20, 2010
The psychiatric emergency room is where people have the worst day of their lives. Scott McLemee recommends a gripping memoir.
January 13, 2010
A black, gay professor is murdered in cold blood in Bloomington. Scott McLemee looks into a hate crime.
January 6, 2010
An unusual cultural journal has reinvented itself, both online and in print. Scott McLemee looks into its latest anthology.
December 30, 2009
A new book presents literary theorist Terry Eagleton in conversation. Scott McLemee eavesdrops with enthusiasm.
December 16, 2009
The Savage Detectives and 2666 make literature feel like a matter of life and death. Scott McLemee interviews a prominent Bolaño-logist.
December 9, 2009
Cornel West was in The Matrix, but cultural politics isn't a video game. Scott McLemee responds to the continuing discussion.
December 2, 2009
Cornel West's latest book is a memoir. Scott McLemee thinks it marks the end of the line.
November 25, 2009
Is the term "out of print" now an anachronism? Scott McLemee eavesdrops on planning for a brave new world.