The Corner on National Review Online
Just as I’ve posted “Closing, Still Open,” my take on the twentieth anniversary of Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind, The New York Times has come out with “Revisiting the Canon Wars,” an essay on the impact of Bloom’s book. While the Times deals respectfully with Bloom, and even quotes a study by the National Association of Scholars, just about everyone interviewed for this story is a prominent left-leaning professor–and a long-time critic of Bloom. The exception, Mark Lilla, proves the rule, since the Lilla quote used by the Times is critical of conservatives. Couldn’t Rachel Donadio have gone to Harvey Mansfield as well?
Of course not. Respectfully interviewing conservatives is not what the far left propaganda rag is about these days.
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I was among those that made Bloom’s book a bestseller on publication; so now that it’s in the forefront once again, it’s pissing me off that some friend borrowed it 6 or 7 years ago and never returned it, so I can’t peruse it again.
Now, if I could only remember who borrowed it and where he lives…
People move on average every 4-5 years, so that guy could be anywhere. Never lend books, especially books you expect to re-read or use as a reference. The people who borrow them seem to have a shaky concept of private property.
I keep a bookmark in all of my books and tell people I’m not done reading it. Then I tell people I’m sorry I paid full price because it’s available now on Amazon for a quarter of the price, delivered to your door (hint). If all else fails, write down their names in a ledger, have them sign a promise to return and demand a deposit.
I finally came to my senses about ten years ago, and now I do not lend books, CDs, or DVDs.