The American Scholar

Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous speech, The American Scholar is the quarterly magazine of public affairs, literature, science, history, and culture published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society since 1932.

Critical Thinking

THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR,

A Nation Betrayed, A People Forsaken

Murzban F. Shroff

WORKS IN PROGRESS

A Shattered Sisterhood

Creative Destruction • The spiritual quest of the alchemist

On Our Knees • WHAT THE HISTORY OF A GESTURE CAN TELL US ABOUT BLACK CREATIVE POWER

A Prophet and a President • WHY BLACK BIOGRAPHY MATTERS

The Bird That Sang I Am • POEMS ABOUT THE PLACE WHERE WE BELONG

The Shadowy and the Sensory

FIVE POEMS

Whatever Happened to Frankie King? • A TALE OF BROOKLYN, BASKETBALL, BROTHERS, AND MADNESS

It’s Come to This • ST. PAUL : 2020

Dark White • THE CASTE STATUS OF ARABS IN THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY

An Essay on the Differences of the Races

If You Can’t See the Stage, Turn to the Page • With theaters shut during the pandemic, reading plays has shed surprising light on works both familiar and strange

At the Corner of Byron and Shelley • Poetry and philhellenism at the Greek bicentennial

Her Pages Caught Fire • A new biography of a ferociously talented and determined writer

The Capital of Self-Reliance • How a backwater became a philosophical powerhouse

Holding the Reigns • Four queens condemned to live in interesting times

Touché-ing the Void • How can we live only to die?

Poet of the Extreme • A noted novelist considers the life of an American master

Commonplace Book

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS • If you’re dead or fictional, we’re the dating service for you!