Closing of the American MindThe brilliant, controversial, bestselling critique of American culture that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times)—now featuring a new afterword by Andrew Ferguson in a twenty-fifth anniversary edition. In 1987, eminent political philosopher Allan Bloom published The Closing of the American Mind, an appraisal of contemporary America that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times) and has not only been vindicated, but has also become more urgent today. In clear, spirited prose, Bloom argues that the social and political crises of contemporary America are part of a larger intellectual crisis: the result of a dangerous narrowing of curiosity and exploration by the university elites. Now, in this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, acclaimed author and journalist Andrew Ferguson contributes a new essay that describes why Bloom’s argument caused such a furor at publication and why our culture so deeply resists its truths today. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - GRLopez - LibraryThingI have waited years and years to read this. I knew there was good stuff in here, but now that I finally made time for it, I wasn't as excited to read about it now. Still, it was a provocative ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - mitchanderson - LibraryThingI think the diversity of these reviews and comments is a testament to the quality of Bloom’s work. Something that, had the book been emphasizing a bunch of thoughtless relativism (as opposed to ... Read full review
Contents
11 | |
19 | |
25 | |
The Clean Slate | 47 |
Books | 62 |
Music | 68 |
Relationships | 82 |
The German Connection | 141 |
The Self | 173 |
Creativity | 180 |
Values | 194 |
The Nietzscheanization of the Left or Vice Versa | 217 |
Our Ignorance | 227 |
From Socrates Apology to Heideggers Rektoratsrede | 243 |
The Sixties | 313 |
The Student and the University | 336 |
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