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Closing of the American Mind
 
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Closing of the American Mind (Paperback)

by Allan Bloom (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (1 April 1988)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0671657151
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671657154
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.5 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 72,577 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Synopsis

A critique of the intellectual and moral confusions of this age argues that the social/political crisis of twentieth-century America is actually an intellectual crisis, and shows how American democracy has hosted ideas of nihilism, despair, and relativism disguised as tolerance.

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Intellectual life in a liberal democracy - a must read...., 18 Aug 1997
By A Customer
Professor Bloom, in my opinion, generalizes a bit too much in describing the "modern" American student. One of those myself - a sophomore undergrad at the time of "Closings" publishing - I thought Bloom hit and miss when referring to the "average" American student.

However, he does an unbelievably good job in describing the ills in the "social sciences" and how we have arrived today at a place where graduate students study comic books and MTV is a weighty topic of intellectual speculation and where old masters like Aristotle are almost dissapeared (Does this reflect poorly on Aristotle or on ourselves?). For anyone who wonders at where we went wrong in the twentieth century, Bloom is like a breath of fresh air in the unwholesome swamp of the modern research university. Much of what I felt during years of instruction/indoctrination as a university student is plainly and eloquently laid out by Bloom - he seems to give voice to what was inchoate in my soul on this important issue.

It is not easy reading - even for the well educated. But nothing worth doing was ever easy, and if you want "fun" and "light" you can always open up a comic book again. On the other hand, if you really want to stretch your mind and engage certain "Big Questions" (whether you agree with Bloom or not), then read "The Closing of the American Mind."

It was the most important book I have read in years. Bloom may overstate his case at times, but there is the essential kernel of truth in what he says, in my opinion. Great intoduction also by Saul Bellows.

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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece on philosophy and education in our times., 7 April 1999
By A Customer
Bloom begins with the problem of liberal education at the end of the 20th century - in a world where students are taught from childhood that "values" are relative and that tolerance is the first virtue, too many students arrive at college without knowing what it means to really believe in anything. They think they are open-minded but their minds are closed to the one thing that really matters: the possibility of absolute truth, of absolute right and wrong. In explaining where we are and how we got here, Bloom presents a devastating critique of modern American education and its students, an intellectual history of the United States and its unique foundation in Enlightenment philosophy, and an assesment of the project of liberal education.

Far from being just another critic of the latest postmodern fad or the ongoing excesses of academic relativism, Bloom has his eye on the ages - his subject is our place in history and our relationship to the canon of philosophy handed down to us over centuries. This book isn't about the last few decades of academic decline, it's about the last few centuries of philosophical upheaval and uncertainty.

Bloom's pessimism about the future prospects of liberal education (and Enlightenment liberalism generally) isn't entirely warranted, but then that's partially because so many of Bloom's readers have taken his warnings seriously and labored to reverse the academic trends he identified so clearly. If the light at the end of the tunnel is now dimly visible, in large part we have Bloom to thank for it.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent,stimulating critique of American (non) thought, 24 Oct 1996
By A Customer
Although a few years old, Bloom's _Closing of the American Mind_ is still a tour de force in assessing the state of American thought. Bloom contends that our society suffers from a neurotic open-ness to almost any opinion except the opinion that some positions have (innately) more merit than others. We are intolerant of the concepts of good and value in our thought life and in our spiritual world. Bloom recommends a rerurn (or progression, possibly) to a worldview that is at once more rigorous and ultimately more "open minded" in the truest sense.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars A demonstration of the neoconservative craft?
First - a confession: I have only read about two thirds of this book for reasons I will shortly make clear. Read more
Published 10 months ago by G. J. Mcintyre

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dangers of Post Modernism
The theme of this book is about Post-Modernism, and its disastrous effects on modernity.

Post-modernism is essentially relativism, the strange belief that there are... Read more
Published on 21 May 2007 by P. Gahegan

1.0 out of 5 stars How Not to..
This book is the disease for which it pretends to be the diagnosis (or even cure). Complaining of rampant anti-intellectualism and shabby reading skills, Bloom dismisses... Read more
Published on 10 April 2007 by Michael Morse

4.0 out of 5 stars The closing of the western mind
This book reflects a wider stagnation of intellect across the western world. It appears to be an anglo-saxon mental illness but it is more to do with wealth, prosperity and... Read more
Published on 31 Jul 2002 by clive

1.0 out of 5 stars criticizing relativism he failed miserably at being objectiv
This is one of the neo-conservative jesus-thumping guys that gives some really good books a bad name. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 1999

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat easy to read
Although I did not like his basic idea and found it truly American conservative, his writing was very easy to read through. Read more
Published on 22 Jul 1999

2.0 out of 5 stars a good idea, poor execution
Mr. Bloom's book is a good idea. Certainly, Nihilism and the lack of respect for tradition, classical education are a problem in our society. I do agree with Mr. Read more
Published on 12 May 1999

2.0 out of 5 stars Half brilliant, half utterly fallacious
Bloom's book vibrates with passion and stoops into the very nihilism he tries to attack. "The Germanization of the University? Read more
Published on 12 Mar 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A treatise of truth
I'm a student of the very University Dr. Bloom was both an Alumna and professor. His is a book that says so precisely and accurately what hours and weeks of very expensive,... Read more
Published on 11 Mar 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A wake-up call for academia
Mr. Bloom's book is absolutely amazing! His analysis of the current situation in higher education is insightful and scholarly. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 1999

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