The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students

The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students, by Allan Bloom, is a non-fiction book published in 1987. The work is a critique of American culture and higher education and was considered a landmark in the culture wars of the 1980s. It was a surprise bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year. This guide refers to the page numbers in the 1988 First Touchstone paperback edition of Bloom’s text.

Bloom’s main thesis is that American culture has embraced moral relativism without understanding its disquieting origins in German philosophy or its potentially dangerous consequences for democratic society. This situation constitutes a social and educational crisis of the highest order, undermining the country’s sense of national unity and encouraging racial divisiveness, narcissism, and social isolation. Moreover, the university system has failed in its mission to provide the type of education and humane cultivation that can counter the social decline and anti-intellectualism prevalent in America today. The country’s creed of tolerance and openness is really a closedmindedness.

The book consists of three main parts reflecting the fundamental subjects of Bloom’s critique.