The Assault on American Excellence

By Anthony T. Kronman ,

Book cover of The Assault on American Excellence

Book description

"I want to call it a cry of the heart, but it's more like a cry of the brain, a calm and erudite one." -Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal

The former dean of Yale Law School argues that the feverish egalitarianism gripping college campuses today is a threat to…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Assault on American Excellence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Kronman is particularly good at describing the “tough” reasoning skills that underlie the thinking styles that have produced modern science and modern democracies. An example of these tough skills is what he calls the “ethic of depersonalization”: expressing arguments in a form available to all—a form not dependent on our emotions or personal experience. Identity politics, in contrast, gives weight to immutable demographic characteristics in ongoing political conversations.  It thus reverses centuries of progress in the intellectual march toward open, ecumenical inquiry, where personal characteristics do not trump rational argument.

If you love The Assault on American Excellence...

Ad

Book cover of Anatomy of Embodied Education: Creating Pathways to Brain-Mind Evolution

Anatomy of Embodied Education by E. Timothy Burns,

The vast mysterious terrain explored in this book encompasses the embodied human brain, the processes through which humans grow, develop, and learn, and the mystery of consciousness itself. We authors offer this guidebook to assist you in entering and exploring that terrain.

As parents and educators come to understand this…

Want books like The Assault on American Excellence?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Assault on American Excellence.

Browse books like The Assault on American Excellence

Book cover of The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
Book cover of The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics
Book cover of The Breakdown of Higher Education: How It Happened, the Damage It Does, and What Can Be Done

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

2,358

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Assault on American Excellence, you might also like...

Book cover of Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism

Grand Old Unraveling by John Kenneth White,

It didn’t begin with Donald Trump. When the Republican Party lost five straight presidential elections during the 1930s and 1940s, three things happened: (1) Republicans came to believe that presidential elections are rigged; (2) Conspiracy theories arose and were believed; and (3) The presidency was elevated to cult-like status.

Long…

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in identity politics, political correctness, and democracy?

Democracy 138 books