Intellectual Affairs

Scott McLemee explores the mysteries of a centuries-old manuscript -- one that has tested, and defeated, the mental powers of numerous researchers.

By Scott McLemee

The death of Scott Eric Kaufman -- an American critic and leading first-generation, graduate student blogger -- drives home the sense that this has been an especially cruel year, writes Scott McLemee.

By Scott McLemee

Scott McLemee delves into The Quantified Self by Deborah Lupton, a study of how digital self-tracking is insinuating itself into every nook and cranny of human experience.

By Scott McLemee

In the wake of her shocking loss, Scott McLemee analyzes close to 30 theses and dissertations that academics have written over the past several decades about Hillary Clinton.

By Scott McLemee

This year’s quincentennial of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia coincides with an exceptionally spirit-blighting presidential election, making his work especially relevant, writes Scott McLemee.

By Scott McLemee

How to make sense of the rash of sinister clown sightings throughout America? Scott McLemee turns to Heroes, Villains and Fools: The Changing American Character.

By Scott McLemee

Scott McLemee interviews the author of a new book about the pre-eminent author and political thinker W. E. B. Du Bois, whose legacy remains highly relevant today.

By Scott McLemee

While long neglected until its recent republication, Heinrich Kaan’s Psychopathia Sexualis had important implications: it treated human sexuality as entirely explicable within nature, writes Scott McLemee.

By Scott McLemee