Then ask a scholar! “Ask a Scholar” matches readers’ questions to scholars who have the answers. Submit questions by email or via Intellectual Takeout's Ask the Professor feature. Past questions answered by NAS scholars have been:
- Lots of experts say that an event as disruptive as our precipitous financial crisis has never before unfolded in the middle of an American presidential election. Is this true? Are there any relevant historical parallels?
- Why don't school buses have seat belts?
- Does Lily Bart commit suicide at the end of Edith Wharton's novel, The House of Mirth, or does she die of a drug overdose?
- What do identity hustlers mean when they use words like "queering," "race-ing," "worlding," etc.?
- In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d'Urbervilles, is the encounter between Tess and Alec in the forest rape or seduction? Why didn't the author tell us one way or another?
- Do you have references of Latin-American authors that develop their work in Critical Discourse Analysis?
- What caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
If you've ever wondered things like whether science fiction is literature or whether Russia is part of 'the West,' you're in luck. Ask us your questions and we'll find a scholar who can take his best shot at answering them.
