Olga Thierbach-McLean

Olga Thierbach-McLean is an American Studies scholar, author and journalist. In 2015, she earned her doctorate in American Studies at the University of Hamburg, where she has also taught as an adjunct lecturer. Her main research interests are in contemporary U.S. political culture, American transcendentalism, dystopian fiction and crime fiction. She is the author of numerous articles on U.S. political and pop-cultural topics, as well as the book Emersonian Nation (2016), which traces the resonance of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s philosophy in U.S. debates on personal rights and social reform. Her current research projects are focused on the impact of digital media on democratic processes and the renegotiation of traditional individualist tenets in present-day America. [Source: VOX, 2025]