Is the American Mind Getting Dumber?

Abstract

Since it became an instant bestseller in 1987, The Closing of the American Mind has become the stuff of everyday academic chit-chat and has made the author, reclusive bachelor Allan Bloom, a household word among U.S. educators. Now the unofficial bible of academic conservatism, Closing provides intellectual ammunition and support to lobbying groups such as the neutral-sounding National Association of Scholars and to rightwing militants of the Dartmouth Review variety. Bloom's lengthy tract, moreover, was but the first in a series of bilious and mean-spirited polemics from and for the cultural Right, notably Charles Sykes's ProfScam and Roger Kimball's Tenured Radicals.

This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.

Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.