Closing of the American MindTHE BRILLIANT AND CONTROVERSIAL CRITIQUE OF AMERICAN CULTURE WITH NEARLY A MILLION COPIES IN PRINT 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 - DellaWanna - LibraryThingBloom's observations, published in the late '80s, throw a light on the 21st century. Quoting Rousseau, who noted the complementarity of the sexes, which "mesh and set the machine of life in motion ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - dham340 - LibraryThingDecided to read this to see if it was relevant at all. The sad answer is yes, but it flaws are even larger with age. Most of bloom's arguments are of the "get off my lawn" sort of grumpy old men ... Read full review
Contents
Foreword by Saul Bellow | 11 |
The Clean Slate | 47 |
Books | 62 |
Copyright | |
12 other sections not shown
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Closing of the American Mind |
| Author | Allan Bloom |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster, 1988 |
| ISBN | 0671657151, 9780671657154 |
| Length | 400 pages |
| Subjects | › Social Science / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |