Websites
Biography
After spending more than a decade teaching interdisciplinary courses for the UND Honors Program, North Dakota native Brian James Schill moved over to the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences to serve as the School's lead writer/communicator. Schill is the author of the literary history of punk and postpunk subculture, The Year’s Work in the Punk Bookshelf, or Lusty Scripts (Indiana University Press 2017) and the editor of Cormac McCarthy's Neoliberalism: Breakdown in Mercantile Ethics (Tennessee University Press 2025). His scholarship and journalism have appeared in Salon, Punk & Postpunk, Prairie Schooner, PopMatters, and The Cormac McCarthy Journal, among other venues.
BOOKS
- Cormac McCarthy’s Neoliberalism: Breakdown in Mercantile Ethics, Editor (Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2025).
- The Year’s Work in the Punk Bookshelf, Or Lusty Scripts (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017).
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES/CHAPTERS
- “No cheap history, baby: Silkworm as past and prophecy,” Lay It Down In Full View: Collected Writings on Silkworm and their Music, ed. Paul Duffus (Tangent Books, 2025).
- “Cormac, Antipsychiatry, and the Madness of Neoliberalism,” New Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy, eds. Jon and Rick Elmore (South Carolina University Press, 2025).
- “The Glanton Gang’s Michel Foucault,” The Cormac McCarthy Journal 1:20 (2022), 23-43.
- “‘I Think I’m Dumb,’ Or, Punk’s Productive Shame,” Punk Now!!, M. Grimes and M. Dines (Bristol: Intellect, 2020)
- “Shame & the Politics of Punk Fiction,” Arizona Quarterly 69:4 (Winter 2013), 133-158.
- “‘I Could’ve Been Raskolnikov’: Punk Reads Dostoevsky,” Punk & Post-Punk 2:1 (Spring 2013), 5-25.
- “The Superego State: A Lover’s Reply,” Prairie Schooner 86:3 (Fall 2012), 85-105.
- “Nothing Is Permitted Anymore: Postanrchism, Gnosticism, and the End of Production,” Anarchist Studies 20:1 (Spring 2012), 9-31.
- “The Impossibility of Negation: A Theoretical Defense of ‘Crossover’ Christian Rock,” The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 16:2 (Summer 2007), https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.16.1.001.
MULTIMEDIA / TRADE
- “A Juggernaut of Jokes”: An oral history of Silkworm’s ‘Italian Platinum.’ PopMatters, 27 Feb. 2023. PopMatters Media, Inc. Web: https://www.popmatters.com/oral-history-silkworm-italian-platinum
- “From North Dakota to Occupy Wall Street: An unlikely untold story of prairie radicalism.” Salon. 30 Oct. 2021. Salon.com, LLC. Web: www.salon.com/2021/10/30/from-north-dakota-to-occupy-wall-street-an-unlikely-untold-story-of-prairie-radicalism
- “Micah Bloom’s Skeleton Tree.” Rev. of Codex (The Digital Press at UND, 2017). North Dakota Quarterly online supplement. 5 Dec. 2017. Web: https://ndquarterly.org/2017/12/05/micah-blooms-skeleton-tree
- “Cheerleading for ‘Abusive’ Mascots.” Extra! 23:7 (July 2010), 14-15. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. Web: https://fair.org/extra/cheerleading-for-abusive-mascots
- “God’s Chosen Heathens.” Clamor 23 (November/December 2003): 56-60.
- “June Panic.” Punk Planet 57 (September/October 2003): 64-66.
PRESENTATIONS
- “Special Agent McCarthy: Cormac and the deep state,” The Legacy of Cormac McCarthy, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Knoxville, Tenn., 2-5 Oct. 2024.
- “‘Please don't be cynical’: A deep dive into marcomm’s responsibility in a branded health environment,” Association of American Medical Colleges Conference for Institutional Advancement. Boston, Mass., 1-4 April 2024.
- “Biopower, political economy, and medical education post-COVID,” Table Topic discussion at Association of American Medical Colleges Learn Serve Lead conference. Seattle Convention Center, Seattle, Wash., 4 Nov. 2023.
- “Cormac, Foucault, and Anti-Psychiatry,” A Symposium on Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger and Stella Maris, Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., 21-23 Sept. 2023.
- “Leveraging community partners to build trust, enhance your reputation and advance your mission,” Association of American Medical Colleges Conference for Institutional Advancement, Phoenix, Ariz., 29-31 March 2023.
- “‘We should destroy this’: Bob Dylan, Cormac McCarthy, and Ireland in the American Voice.” International Cormac McCarthy Conference, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, 14-17 June 2022.
- “Branded Journalism: How medical school magazines can shape and even lead healthcare conversations.” Co- presenter with N. Chapman. 2020 AAMC Conference for Institutional Advancement. New Orleans, Lou. 1-4 April 2020. Conference CANCELED due to COVID.
- “The Monkey Smokes a Cigarette, Or, Yelling at Your Television.” North Dakota University System Arts & Humanities Summit 2016. University of North Dakota. Grand Forks, N.D., 29 Sept. 2016.
- “‘I Think I’m Dumb,’ Or, Punk’s Predilection with Shame.” Popular Culture / American Culture Assoc. National Conference, Seattle, Wash., 22-25 March 2016.
- “The Public Library as InfoShop.” TEDx Grand Forks. 20 February 2016. Empire Arts Center, Grand Forks, N.D. Available online at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7I8ATYQ6ec.
- “Love Will Tear Us Apart, Or, Henry and June Meet Sid and Nancy.” Presentation to the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Assoc. National Conference, Chicago, Ill., 16-19 April 2014.
- “James Orbinski.” Introduction for former Médecins Sans Frontières President James Orbinski, MD, before his presentation to the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Grand Forks. 26 Oct. 2011.
- “Postanarchism and the End of Production,” 2010 Southwest/Texas Popular & American Culture Association National Conference, Albuquerque, N.M., 11 Feb. 2010.
Master of Arts (Summa Cum Laude), University of North Dakota, May 2005
Literary Theory and Criticism
Bachelor of Arts (Magna Cum Laude), University of North Dakota, May 2000
Double Major: English Literature and Comparative Religious Studies
Minor: Classical Studies