Although the field had its crackpots it was never as off-the-rails as the Economist writer makes it out to be. Mosteller and Wallace's analysis of the Federalis

Although the field had its crackpots it was never as off-the-rails as the Economist writer makes it out to be. Mosteller and Wallace's analysis of the Federalist Papers is a well-known early effort (https://priceonomics.com/how-statistics-solved-a-175-year-old-mystery-about/ https://priceonomics.com/how-statistics-solved-a-175-year-ol...). Part of my MA covered this topic (stylometry), you can take a look (https://www.dropbox.com/s/3q9ljrgnntgs6ee/t.pdf https://www.dropbox.com/s/3q9ljrgnntgs6ee/t.pdf). It lists some of the references up until that time (c. 2004).