Scott W. Stern is a historian, critic, and public interest attorney, originally from Pittsburgh. He is the author of three nonfiction books, most recently Shakespeare’s Margaret: The Dramatic Life of a Warrior Queen (2026), co-written with Charles O’Malley. His writing has also appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Time, and many other popular publications and scholarly journals.
Scott W. Stern
Articles
Character Study
The burgeoning field of fiction character biographies.
What History’s “Bad Gays” Can Tell Us About the Queer Past and Present
Scott W. Stern explores the antiheroes of gay history in Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller’s “Bad Gays: A Homosexual History.”
Sex Work as (Anti)Work: On Heather Berg’s “Porn Work”
Scott Stern reviews Heather Berg’s “Porn Work,” a new study that explores how labor functions — or doesn’t — within the adult film industry.
Sabotage Can Be Done Softly: On Andreas Malm’s “How to Blow Up a Pipeline”
Scott W. Stern reviews "How to Blow Up a Pipeline," the new book from Andreas Malm.
Bending Toward the Storm: On Andy Horowitz’s “Katrina: A History, 1915–2015”
Scott Stern reviews a new book that unpacks New Orleans’s history of mishandling storm readiness.
