The Closing of the American Mind (1987)

I put it down after reading 1/3 of it. It was more than a bit repetitive. ( )

Rated: F ( )

I disagree with many of the points Bloom is trying to make, but I think a) the book is a very good conversation starter; b) that the conversations it starts are ones we really ought to be having; and, c) that his main point about intellectual standards having substantially slipped is well-taken. There is certainly a bit of the "bitter swing to the right" here that we can see in a number of other authors of Bloom's generation (Kingsley Amis, for instance), and Bloom DOES sound pompous sometimes, but these are minor faults in a book that attempts to grapple with some of the big questions of culture and pedagogy in a refreshingly honest (though sometimes blinkered) way. ( )

A sweeping assessment of America's moral and intellectual state, including a serious look at the state of the university. In spite of its longevity--ne 1987--this book demands a searching read as well as collective instrospection of how we stack up now. ( )

I'm no longer in precisely the same place today, but this was a big book for me. Opened up new vistas to philosophy, political theory, and even eventually theology (though that was certainly not Bloom's concern). An argumentative (even polemic) history of western thought. A much more serious book than its massive popularity and (melo?)dramatic opening might indicate. IIRC Bloom opens with a word picture of modern college students seen as modern day savages dancing to jungle music! From Bloom, you can move on to Leo Strauss.