Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State Archives

Author: Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State

Author

Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State

Dr. McClennen is professor of international affairs and comparative literature and the founding director of Penn State's Center for Global Studies, a Title VI FLAS Center, and has ties to the departments of Spanish and Women's Studies. She has published 12 books and has two in progress.

Her most recent monograph is "Pranksters vs. Autocrats: Why Dilemma Actions Advance Nonviolent Activism" (Cornell UP 2020), co-authored with Srdja Popovic. She also recently released "Globalization and Latin American Cinema: Toward a New Critical Paradigm" (Palgrave 2018) and "The Debt Age" (Routledge 2018), co-edited with Jeffrey Di Leo and Peter Hitchcock. Other recent books include "The Routledge Companion to Human Rights and Literature" (2015), co-edited with Alexandra Schultheis Moore, which includes over 50 contributions to the topic. She also recently published "Is Satire Saving our Nation? Mockery and American Politics" (Palgrave 2014), co-authored with Penn State communications undergraduate Remy Maisel, and "Neoliberalism, Terrorism, Education" (Paradigm 2013), which she co-wrote with Jeffrey Di Leo, Henry Giroux, and Kenneth Saltman. Her latest manuscript is entitled "The Comedians Aren't Kidding: Why Satire Makes Sense When Politics Doesn’t," which analyzes the role that political satire has played in the Trump era. She is also working on a book in the global impact of political satire: "The Revolution Will Be Satirized."

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5 reasons Stephen Colbert is one of the most important satirists in American history

by Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State May 21, 2026

Stephen Colbert’s final episode as host of “The Late Show” on May 21, 2026, won’t mark the end of his career. But as a scholar of political satire, I think... Read more.

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Author: Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State

Author

5 reasons Stephen Colbert is one of the most important satirists in American history