Allan Bloom and the Origins of the Contemporary Culture War

This chapter reads Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind as an early conservative representation of the campus culture wars. This book is important because it unintentionally reveals many of the unconscious processes dominating our current political discourse. As a reactionary text, Bloom attacks diversity and moral relativism in favor of an idealized view of American history. In an effort to promote a secular national religion, he displaces the destructive nature of contemporary capitalism onto minorities and a demonized Left.