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On <i>The Closing of the American Mind</i> — 13 Comments

  1. Read the book when it first came out and it stirred in me the first faint air of despair that has grown ever since. And just as faintly, I recall Bill Kristol having noted that the early praise for the book came from the very people, in some cases, who abetted the Leftist nihilism that had turned the classically Liberal Liberal Arts into liberal barbarism. These people (academics praising the book) were so far removed and self-alienated from classical thought that it was no longer possible for them to understand the dichotomy of what they had fostered and what they were now praising. The ensuing critical critical tsunami was probably meant as much to set the idiots straight as making it known Mr. Bloom was a danger to the nihilist agenda.

    By the way, I got a kick out of Andrew Ferguson’s observation last year, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the publication of The Closing Of The American Mind that precisely 9 months after the publication date, Snooki Polizzi was born — a portent, I think, of things to come and Mr. Bloom being right.

    I believe I would challenge any hopelessly truculent liberal to read this book and then try to explain away the present zeitgeist as the fault of regressive conservatives.

  2. I read this book in early 2009 and felt I understood how Obama could be elected. It seemed to explain a lot about how racism was addressed in the University environment. Nothing much has changed and the fall-out as predicted by Bloom was correct.

  3. Political correctness: control speech and you will control thought.
    How sad for us all that the “liberals” we’re co-opted by the far left.

  4. I read this when it first came out. But I didn’t know he was dead and any of the circumstances surrounding his end.

    I remember his book helped sort out one insight – that open vs closed mind is independent of left or right politics.

  5. I heard or read about the book before it was published, and I hastened to get it, because I was sure it would not last long on any bookstore shelves: I was sure the establishment (they weren’t the “mainstream” then) would ignore it, bury it, do what they would do to stifle its dissemination.

    To my surprise, I need not have hastened. Flash-forward a quarter-century. At this point, the mainstreamers will do whatever it takes to suppress a book, but it’s already too late — there are enough alternate outlets, including right-oriented publishers, that a book such as Bloom’s will not be buried.

    But such a book ^will^ manage to be be buried with respect to the mainstream culture; recent Exhibit A, D’Souza’s 2012 book “2016”, letting the cat out of the bag regarding the incumbent president, then a candidate for reelection.

  6. Bloom was Camille Paglia’s mentor when she was a graduate student at Yale.

    Interesting that she’s just about the only person with leftist inclinations today who now and then dares to question the ways and the gods of the PC crowd.

  7. But good point about Camille Paglia. She, as well as Christopher Hitchens, are/were lefties who have an aversion to Kool-Aid.

  8. Funny, after reading neo’s post on Bloom I also thought of Paglia before I saw your comment, Ann. Paglia strains to be outrageous but is intelligent enough that she frequently makes good points while doing so. In that she is like another Ann, Ann Coulter.

  9. In the context of the issues raised by this thread, I direct reader’s attention to what I found to be an extraordinarily interesting summary explication of German historian Oswald Spengler’s view of History and of the natural basis and evolution of civilizations (http://nationalinterest.org/article/spenglers-ominous-prophecy-7878?page=show).

    As I recall, Spengler, a major early 20th century European historian, somehow never mentioned, except perhaps as a very brief and dismissive aside, in what I had thought was a very comprehensive undergraduate honors course in Historiography.

    His is what might be called an “organic,” somewhat romantic, even mystical look at civilizations and their growth and decay, rather than a strictly analytical one, but–looking at the evidence–his predictions and views seem to be rather close fits.

    Reading this very enlightening–and sobering–summary of his views and predictions, and seeing how they so clearly fit and explain contemporary America is pretty scary.

  10. Just to note, if one searches on Allan Bloom’s name at YouTube, a few videos will turn up and he will speak, whereupon, we can listen.

    Also possibly of interest (and even better for my money), Mr. Bloom’s own teacher, Leo Strauss, can be heard on tapes freely available for download at the Leo Strauss Center at U. of Chicago website.

  11. Pingback:SUNDAY GOD & CAESAR EDITION | Big Pulpit

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