Allan Bloom

Many of us fear that something has gone drastically wrong with our culture today, and we suspect that a small but influential group of intellectuals - mostly on college campuses - might have had something to do with it. Not because they are intellectuals, but because their egos have so often outweighed their ideas.

Professor Allan Bloom shared our fears and validated our suspicions. If you're a conservative who bristles at the charge that conservatism is innately "closed-minded," but you struggle to muster up a credible defense against the charge, you might want to check out Bloom's best-selling book, The Closing of the American Mind. It's even more relevant today than when it was published in 1987. Or if you're a liberal who wants to become unmired from the swamp of intellectual heresy that surrounds you, it would probably do you some good, as well.

And some of Professor Bloom's lectures are accessible on this Youtube page. (They're heavy on philosophy, so if that's not your thing...)