Has it really been 20 years? Has it only been 20 years?

William Grosso @ September 17, 2007

20 years ago, Allan Bloom convinced me I knew very little. His book, The Closing of the American Mind, is a bona-fide masterpiece. It’s brilliant, it’s compelling, and, in its own way, it’s as Gonzo as anything Hunter S Thompson ever wrote.

So it shocked me to learn that it’s been 20 years. Because the book doesn’t feel 20 years ago. The passion, the ideas, and the outcome are still fresh in my mind today.  I will admit, though, that  some of the retrospective articles, in particular Stanley Kurtz’s piece on NRO, are interesting.

It also shocked me to realize that it’s ONLY been 20 years. I mean, wow. Since Bloom wrote the book, the way we experience culture, and the way we interact with each other, has changed entirely. I’ve recently been thinking that Facebook and Twitter represent a whole new model of society.

And now I’m wondering what Allan Bloom would make of the word we’re creating. It’s an interesting question.

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