There’s a popular meme about over-analysis in English class referring to the hypothetical text ‘the curtains were blue.’ The joke goes that the English teacher would pontificate about these colored ...

The phenomenal rise of Donald Trump has alarmed many observers over the revival of anti-intellectualism in American society. But America is not the only country that is being afflicted by ...

In a recent article published on openDemocracy Michael Gardiner set out an interesting thesis on ‘Burkean British time’. The article attracted vigorous criticism in the comments beneath – many of ...

My last post, Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America, spotlighted the problem of anti-reason in American society, pointing out that it is widespread and doing much harm. A few days after the piece ...

The late Gore Vidal once confessed, with characteristic rapier wit, “I love stupidity. It excites me.” But the excitement and hilarity of human foibles and failures diminish rapidly when the ...

Reading? Optional. Pretending to read? Essential. Books are slowly becoming props for latte photos, Instagram challenges, and ...

The tragedy in Charleston last week will no doubt lead to more discussion of several important and recurring issues in American culture—particularly racism and gun violence—but these dialogues are ...

AEI’s recent book forum, “The state of the American mind: Anti-intellectualism in America more than 25 years after Allan Bloom” brought together five of the 16 critics who contributed to the book, ...

From attacks on evolution to denunciations of the “ivory tower,” anti-intellectualism has a long and contemptible history in the United States. It is now killing Americans. For months we have known ...

An intellectual is generally thought of as an anti-establishment entity supposed to speak for and on behalf of the nation’s downtrodden. But in postcolonial states like Pakistan, much of ...