Russell Kirk wrote the first version of The Conservative Mind here, as a doctoral thesis. The university conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Letters; as far as I understand he is still the only American who has been awarded this degree by St Andrews. While there, he also wrote an illustrated book about the town, St. Andrews (1954). Charming sections about St Andrews and the writing of The Conservative Mind are found in The Sword of Imagination (1995).
Jan Olof Bengtsson 