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
October 22, 2008
Students with more cash than brains know how to get their term papers written fast. Scott McLemee looks under a rock....
October 15, 2008
Is digital shorthand the end of literacy? Scott McLemee listens to a linguist.
October 8, 2008
Is U.S. literature too insular and media-crazed to merit notice by the Swedish Academy? Scott McLemee asks around.
October 1, 2008
Bernard-Henri Lévy has become an American media superstar. Scott McLemee thinks his fifteen minutes are about up.
September 24, 2008
A new book looks at the dumbing-down of American politics. Scott McLemee is surprised it's in one volume.
September 17, 2008
The late David Foster Wallace didn't settle for satire. Scott McLemee says farewell to a wild talent.
September 10, 2008
Was Shakespeare's classic set two hours from Boston? Scott McLemee scours the books to find out.
August 27, 2008
The conflict between Russia and Georgia was a turning point of some kind. Scott McLemee wonders what's the big idea....
August 20, 2008
Texting and instant messaging are the wave of the future? Scott McLemee is just too ecstatic.
August 13, 2008
The presidential campaigns are running themselves into the ground. Scott McLemee thinks space is the place....