Spencer Lee Lenfield

Spencer Lee Lenfield was a Ledecky Fellow during the 2009-2010 academic year. He graduated in 2012 with a degree in History and Literature. He will be attending Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship until mid-2015, where he is reading for a second bachelor’s degree in classics and philosophy.
Portrait photograph of Marilyn Booth

Arts & Culture |

Arabic translator Marilyn Booth

Marilyn Booth translates Arabic literature for Anglophone readers.

Photographs of the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court, representing the three branches of government.

University News |

The Crisis in Civic Education

A U.S. Department of Education-funded study, coauthored by Danielle Allen, calls for urgent reinvestment in civic education.

A collage of emblematic figures in American history set against the Stars and Stripes

Humanities & Arts |

An intellectual history of the Cold War era

In a new book, Louis Menand probes the cultural currents of postwar America.

Illustration about meritocracy: one mother penguin and chick wear college mortarboards, while another mother penguin and her chick don’t.

Books & Literary Life |

Michael Sandel’s “The Tyranny of Merit” reviewed by Spencer Lenfield

Michael Sandel makes the case against meritocracy.

Humanities & Arts |

The Institute for World Literature

The Institute for World Literature expands global scholarship.

Photograph of David Damrosch

Humanities & Arts |

David Damrosch promotes world literature

David Damrosch’s literary global reach

Students & Alumni |

Mark Dery on Edward Gorey, reviewed by Spencer Lee Lenfield

An idiosyncratic new biography of Edward Gorey

philip Johnson standing confidently

Books & Literary Life |

Philip Johnson biography by Mark Lamster reviewed by Spencer Lee Lenfield

A “star-chitect” as P.T. Barnum

Commentary |

Nuclear War in Korea? Eggs and Taxes More Urgent

Living calmly next to a rogue nuclear state

Social Sciences |

Harvard Portrait: historian Sunil Amrita, Mehta professor of South Asian studies

The Bay of Bengal is central for this South Asia scholar.

Books & Literary Life |

Deidre Lynch on Jane Austen and loving literature

Deidre Lynch on the cult of Jane Austen and the complexities of loving literature

Portrait of Danielle Allen

Social Sciences |

Political theorist Danielle Allen is profiled by Spencer Lenfield

Danielle Allen’s mission to return equality to the heart of American democracy