Review: The Closing of the American Mind

The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Decided 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. Nearly all of part I falls into this category.

Part 2 is more philosophy than anything else and bloom's mastery of it is unquestionable.

Part 3 is mixed: in some ways dated, in some ways more relevant.

Regardless, bloom's contention: that a liberal education does not exist is even more true now than it was back in 1987. Despite his call to arms over 25 years ago, almost nothing has been done. The vast majority of america's universities are simply mechanisms one endures to get a job (or, given the most recent economic conditions, not get a job).

While much of the political conservative world internalized Bloom in the 1980s and 90s, I think one thing they miss is that bloom really takes no stand one way or the other on "right" vs "left" as we currently understand them (but he did have strong - not good - opinions on the 60s and the "radical left" of that era).

In the end, a tough book to read whose arguments are interesting but whose evidence is stale. Sadly, Bloom died in 1992 but it would have been fun to hear what he would have said 25 yrs later.

View all my reviews