Scott W. Stern
@scottwstern.bsky.social
Reader, writer, environmental lawyer. Books: The Trials of Nina McCall (2018); There Is A Deep Brooding in Arkansas (2025); Shakespeare’s Margaret (2026). Words: NYRB, TNR, WaPo, Atlantic, LARB, Jacobin, Baffler, etc. For more: www.scottwstern.com
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
Never ceases to amaze and inspire me that @scottwstern.bsky.social writes like he does on top of working full-time as an environmental lawyer
Check out my latest in @thebaffler.com!
A deep, deep dive into the tragic history of international environmental law - and why it "offers a singularly straightforward parable for the tragic limitations of the law." thebaffler.com/salvos/earth...
A deep, deep dive into the tragic history of international environmental law - and why it "offers a singularly straightforward parable for the tragic limitations of the law." thebaffler.com/salvos/earth...
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:25 AM
Never ceases to amaze and inspire me that @scottwstern.bsky.social writes like he does on top of working full-time as an environmental lawyer
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
This from @andreapitzer.bsky.social is key.
“nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training.”
“nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training.”
I wrote about how concentration camp regimes evolve and why it's not too late to stop this, even though we are deep in it now.
Into the abyss
The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:56 AM
This from @andreapitzer.bsky.social is key.
“nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training.”
“nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training.”
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
SHAKESPEARE'S MARGARET, the book i wrote with my co-conspirator / husband @scottwstern.bsky.social, is coming out 2 june 2026 from @wwnorton.com!
take a look at the book page linked below and place those preorders!
we're traveling in june to promote the book; hope to see some of you on the road 😎
take a look at the book page linked below and place those preorders!
we're traveling in june to promote the book; hope to see some of you on the road 😎
January 17, 2026 at 9:39 PM
SHAKESPEARE'S MARGARET, the book i wrote with my co-conspirator / husband @scottwstern.bsky.social, is coming out 2 june 2026 from @wwnorton.com!
take a look at the book page linked below and place those preorders!
we're traveling in june to promote the book; hope to see some of you on the road 😎
take a look at the book page linked below and place those preorders!
we're traveling in june to promote the book; hope to see some of you on the road 😎
Y'all, @charlesomalley.bsky.social and my book, SHAKESPEARE'S MARGARET, comes out on June 2!!!
Please please please consider preordering - it honestly makes a huge difference!! wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Please please please consider preordering - it honestly makes a huge difference!! wwnorton.com/books/978132...
January 17, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Y'all, @charlesomalley.bsky.social and my book, SHAKESPEARE'S MARGARET, comes out on June 2!!!
Please please please consider preordering - it honestly makes a huge difference!! wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Please please please consider preordering - it honestly makes a huge difference!! wwnorton.com/books/978132...
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
International environmental law has floundered in the face of the global climate crisis and cannot hold our worst actors to account. In our new issue, @scottwstern.bsky.social traces the problems back to the 1972 UN Conference that put us on this trajectory.
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:20 PM
International environmental law has floundered in the face of the global climate crisis and cannot hold our worst actors to account. In our new issue, @scottwstern.bsky.social traces the problems back to the 1972 UN Conference that put us on this trajectory.
“Where once [universities] shook their heads at the naivete of the students whose chants asked them how many kids they’d killed today, now they are practically submitting their tallies to the DOD, one last desperate gambit to maintain the status quo.” jewishcurrents.org/higher-eds-b...
Higher Ed's Bad Bargain
To salvage academic freedom amid Trump’s attacks, universities must break from their Cold War compromise with US militarism.
jewishcurrents.org
January 13, 2026 at 4:19 PM
“Where once [universities] shook their heads at the naivete of the students whose chants asked them how many kids they’d killed today, now they are practically submitting their tallies to the DOD, one last desperate gambit to maintain the status quo.” jewishcurrents.org/higher-eds-b...
Check out my latest in @thebaffler.com!
A deep, deep dive into the tragic history of international environmental law - and why it "offers a singularly straightforward parable for the tragic limitations of the law." thebaffler.com/salvos/earth...
A deep, deep dive into the tragic history of international environmental law - and why it "offers a singularly straightforward parable for the tragic limitations of the law." thebaffler.com/salvos/earth...
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
January 6, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Check out my latest in @thebaffler.com!
A deep, deep dive into the tragic history of international environmental law - and why it "offers a singularly straightforward parable for the tragic limitations of the law." thebaffler.com/salvos/earth...
A deep, deep dive into the tragic history of international environmental law - and why it "offers a singularly straightforward parable for the tragic limitations of the law." thebaffler.com/salvos/earth...
Check out my latest in The Baffler!!! On the "tragedy of international environmental law" (a subject that, tragically, is only growing more relevant by the day...)
International environmental law has floundered in the face of the global climate crisis and cannot hold our worst actors to account. @scottwstern.bsky.social traces the problems back to the 1972 UN Conference that put us on this trajectory.
Earth, Bound | Scott W. Stern
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 marked the birth of international environmental law. It was moribund from the start.
thebaffler.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Check out my latest in The Baffler!!! On the "tragedy of international environmental law" (a subject that, tragically, is only growing more relevant by the day...)
Check out my latest in @newrepublic.com - a double review of two incisive new books (AIDS IN THE HEARTLAND and FROM VICE TO NICE, both @uncpress.bsky.social) chronicling the histories of HIV/AIDS far from NYC or SF - in places like Kansas and Minneapolis. newrepublic.com/article/2004...
How the Heartland Responded to AIDS and Shaped Queer Politics
Histories of the epidemic tend to focus on coastal cities, but the response was very different in the middle of the country.
newrepublic.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Check out my latest in @newrepublic.com - a double review of two incisive new books (AIDS IN THE HEARTLAND and FROM VICE TO NICE, both @uncpress.bsky.social) chronicling the histories of HIV/AIDS far from NYC or SF - in places like Kansas and Minneapolis. newrepublic.com/article/2004...
"The United States and its satellites, having taken the centre stage of history to great fanfare after the fall of the Soviet Union, are now exiting in disgrace." This looks like a promising new publication.
www.equator.org
www.equator.org
equator
A new world is emerging from the ruins of the liberal order. But the West’s prestigious publications are ill-equipped to comprehend its challenges – and its possibilities. Enter Equator, an internatio...
www.equator.org
October 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
"The United States and its satellites, having taken the centre stage of history to great fanfare after the fall of the Soviet Union, are now exiting in disgrace." This looks like a promising new publication.
www.equator.org
www.equator.org
This is a massive story that the U.S. press is almost entirely ignoring.
A week ago, union dockworkers warned this would happen: “If we lose contact with the boats, even for twenty minutes, we’ll shut down all of Europe.”
www.politico.eu/article/ital...
A week ago, union dockworkers warned this would happen: “If we lose contact with the boats, even for twenty minutes, we’ll shut down all of Europe.”
www.politico.eu/article/ital...
Mass protests and strikes for Gaza bring Italy to a standstill
Roads and ports were blocked and schools closed after unions called for general strike over Israel’s war on Gaza.
www.politico.eu
October 3, 2025 at 10:43 PM
This is a massive story that the U.S. press is almost entirely ignoring.
A week ago, union dockworkers warned this would happen: “If we lose contact with the boats, even for twenty minutes, we’ll shut down all of Europe.”
www.politico.eu/article/ital...
A week ago, union dockworkers warned this would happen: “If we lose contact with the boats, even for twenty minutes, we’ll shut down all of Europe.”
www.politico.eu/article/ital...
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
Thrilled to see this review of EXTRACTION by @scottwstern.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com. A very thorough essay that situates the book in broader debates about mining, the energy transition, the history of global capitalism, and the possible green futures ahead www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
October 2, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Thrilled to see this review of EXTRACTION by @scottwstern.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com. A very thorough essay that situates the book in broader debates about mining, the energy transition, the history of global capitalism, and the possible green futures ahead www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
Check out my latest in @theatlantic.com, wherein I review EXTRACTION (@wwnorton.com), a dazzling new book by @triofrancos.bsky.social.
I argue that it is "by far the most clear-eyed of mining’s many recent chronicles." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
I argue that it is "by far the most clear-eyed of mining’s many recent chronicles." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
The Costs of the Green Transition
A new book argues that simply replacing fossil-fuel extraction with critical-mineral mining is no way out of the climate crisis.
www.theatlantic.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Check out my latest in @theatlantic.com, wherein I review EXTRACTION (@wwnorton.com), a dazzling new book by @triofrancos.bsky.social.
I argue that it is "by far the most clear-eyed of mining’s many recent chronicles." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
I argue that it is "by far the most clear-eyed of mining’s many recent chronicles." www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...
"A literature which is made by machines, which are owned by corporations, which are run by sociopaths, can only be a 'stereotype' — a simplification, a facsimile, an insult, a fake — of real literature. It should be smashed, and can." www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
September 29, 2025 at 11:05 PM
"A literature which is made by machines, which are owned by corporations, which are run by sociopaths, can only be a 'stereotype' — a simplification, a facsimile, an insult, a fake — of real literature. It should be smashed, and can." www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
“Of all the women incarcerated worldwide, one in four is imprisoned in the US. Over the past four decades, the number of women in state prisons has grown by almost 600 percent.” — @scottwstern.bsky.social
Writing Their Prison’s History | Scott W. Stern
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse.
buff.ly
September 29, 2025 at 12:20 PM
“Of all the women incarcerated worldwide, one in four is imprisoned in the US. Over the past four decades, the number of women in state prisons has grown by almost 600 percent.” — @scottwstern.bsky.social
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
“The members of the Indiana Women’s Prison History Project demolish many of the myths surrounding the institution, proving that its founders…were far more abusive than conventional accounts suggest.” — @scottwstern.bsky.social
Writing Their Prison’s History | Scott W. Stern
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse.
buff.ly
September 27, 2025 at 3:33 PM
“The members of the Indiana Women’s Prison History Project demolish many of the myths surrounding the institution, proving that its founders…were far more abusive than conventional accounts suggest.” — @scottwstern.bsky.social
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
Scott W. Stern @scottwstern.bsky.social on how a group of incarcerated women rewrote the history of their prison
Writing Their Prison’s History | Scott W. Stern
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse.
buff.ly
September 24, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Scott W. Stern @scottwstern.bsky.social on how a group of incarcerated women rewrote the history of their prison
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
check out scott's latest in @nybooks.com -- reviewing a history of a women's prison in indiana written by those currently incarcerated there. beautifully written and devastating.
in the oct. 9 print edition!
in the oct. 9 print edition!
Our 10/9 issue is now online, with Frances Wilson on Charlotte Brontë, @harikunzru.bsky.social on Adolescence, @scottwstern.bsky.social on women’s prisons, Dorothy Sue Cobble on home work, Joshua Hammer on Prigozhin & the Wagner Group, and much more.
October 9, 2025 Issue
Table of Contents
buff.ly
September 19, 2025 at 2:50 AM
check out scott's latest in @nybooks.com -- reviewing a history of a women's prison in indiana written by those currently incarcerated there. beautifully written and devastating.
in the oct. 9 print edition!
in the oct. 9 print edition!
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
Writing Their Prison’s History:
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Writing Their Prison’s History | Scott W. Stern
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse.
www.nybooks.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Writing Their Prison’s History:
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
A recent study by a group of incarcerated scholars at Indiana Women’s Prison reveals how progressive reforms turned into profitable abuse. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Check out my latest in @nybooks.com! It's a review of a brilliant book - a history of the nation's oldest women's prison, written by inmates in that same prison. It was a true privilege to engage with their scholarship. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Our 10/9 issue is now online, with Frances Wilson on Charlotte Brontë, @harikunzru.bsky.social on Adolescence, @scottwstern.bsky.social on women’s prisons, Dorothy Sue Cobble on home work, Joshua Hammer on Prigozhin & the Wagner Group, and much more.
October 9, 2025 Issue
Table of Contents
buff.ly
September 18, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Check out my latest in @nybooks.com! It's a review of a brilliant book - a history of the nation's oldest women's prison, written by inmates in that same prison. It was a true privilege to engage with their scholarship. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
"It seems western leaders have summoned precisely enough political will to fail to stop a world-historic crime." nymag.com/intelligence...
The Gaza Breaking Point
Political consensus is rapidly shifting as famine looms and Israel escalates.
nymag.com
August 9, 2025 at 6:02 PM
"It seems western leaders have summoned precisely enough political will to fail to stop a world-historic crime." nymag.com/intelligence...
I'm still walking on air hours later - this @nytimes.com review so perfectly and concisely gets the point of THERE IS A DEEP BROODING IN ARKANSAS (@yalepress.bsky.social)
Check it out - the Times calls the book "powerful new history"!! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Check it out - the Times calls the book "powerful new history"!! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Is the Supreme Court the Best Way to Get Justice?
www.nytimes.com
July 2, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I'm still walking on air hours later - this @nytimes.com review so perfectly and concisely gets the point of THERE IS A DEEP BROODING IN ARKANSAS (@yalepress.bsky.social)
Check it out - the Times calls the book "powerful new history"!! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Check it out - the Times calls the book "powerful new history"!! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Beyond thrilled to receive a glowing review in today's @nytimes.com!!! THERE IS A DEEP BROODING IN ARKANSAS is a "powerful new history"!
An enormous thanks to @alexiscoe.bsky.social for her deep engagement with my work! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
An enormous thanks to @alexiscoe.bsky.social for her deep engagement with my work! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Is the Supreme Court the Best Way to Get Justice?
www.nytimes.com
July 2, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Beyond thrilled to receive a glowing review in today's @nytimes.com!!! THERE IS A DEEP BROODING IN ARKANSAS is a "powerful new history"!
An enormous thanks to @alexiscoe.bsky.social for her deep engagement with my work! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
An enormous thanks to @alexiscoe.bsky.social for her deep engagement with my work! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/b...
Reposted by Scott W. Stern
Pack the Court. If we are serious about the defense of these rights, we pack the Court. Simple as that. They pack it back, we pack it again. We do it until we reach consensus on long-term reforms to the judiciary. I don't know what it's going to take for people to get it.
June 27, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Pack the Court. If we are serious about the defense of these rights, we pack the Court. Simple as that. They pack it back, we pack it again. We do it until we reach consensus on long-term reforms to the judiciary. I don't know what it's going to take for people to get it.
Check out my latest in @newrepublic.com - a review of "Downtime: The Twentieth Century in Slow Motion" by @goblemark.bsky.social!
The review asks why this one particular special effect resonates - and concludes it's because "our world is, obviously, ending" newrepublic.com/article/1962...
The review asks why this one particular special effect resonates - and concludes it's because "our world is, obviously, ending" newrepublic.com/article/1962...
How Slow Motion Became Cinema’s Dominant Special Effect
The turbulent late ‘60s saw the technique’s popularity explode—and it’s been helping moviemakers (and literary artists) engage with the unsettling tempos of modern life ever since.
newrepublic.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Check out my latest in @newrepublic.com - a review of "Downtime: The Twentieth Century in Slow Motion" by @goblemark.bsky.social!
The review asks why this one particular special effect resonates - and concludes it's because "our world is, obviously, ending" newrepublic.com/article/1962...
The review asks why this one particular special effect resonates - and concludes it's because "our world is, obviously, ending" newrepublic.com/article/1962...