Allan Bloom

All is not well in America—or in the University. Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind offers a profound and compelling diagnosis of the common illness infecting them both and of the intimate connection between liberal education and liberty. A best-seller from its release in 1987, Bloom offers an enlightening exposition of the state of education and culture in his decade that is eerily prophetic of our current environment. In commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the book, this symposium assesses and comments on Bloom's three main themes: students, American Nihilism, and the university.