The Opening of the American Mind: Ten Years of the Point

In a cultural landscape dominated by hot takes and petty polemics, The Point stands for something different. Informed by the conviction that humanistic thinking has relevance for everyday life, the magazine has long maintained a rare space for thoughtful dialogue between a wide range of political views, philosophical perspectives, and personal experiences: its contributors include liberals and conservatives, philosophers and activists, Marxists and Catholics, New Yorkers and Midwesterners. A little more than a decade since its founding on the campus of the University of Chicago, it offers a unique and revelatory look at the changing face of America, one that speaks not only to way American minds have been forced to “open” by a decade of trauma and transformation, but also to the challenge of remaining open to our fellow citizens during our deeply divided present. Featuring award-winning and highly acclaimed essays from The Point’s first ten years, The Opening of the American Mind traces the path of American intellect from the magazine’s inception in 2009, when Barack Obama was ascending the steps of the White House, to the brink of the 2020 election. The essays, chosen both for the way they capture their time and transcend it, are assembled into five sections that address cycles of cultural frustrations, social movements, and the aftermath of the 2016 election, and provide lively, forward-looking considerations of how we might expand our imaginations into the future. Spanning the era of Obama and Trump, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and renewed attention to reparations, this anthology offers critical reflections on some of the decade’s most influential events and stands as a testament to the significance of open exchange. The intellectual dialogue provided by The Point has never been more urgently needed, and this collection will bring the magazine’s vital work to an even broader readership.

Table of Contents:
Introduction  Jon Baskin & Anastasia Berg The End of the End of History Predatory Habits Etay Zwick Hard Feelings  Ben Jeffery No Such Thing? Jonny Thakkar Forward with Fukuyama Daniel Luban After Ferguson Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul? Jesse McCarthy Linked Fate Melina Abdullah After Ferguson Brandon M. Terry Final Fantasy Understanding Is Dangerous Kathryn Lofton Midwestworld Meghan O’Gieblyn Letter on Our President The Editors Pleasure Won Lauren Berlant & Bea Malsky Final Fantasy James Duesterberg Tired of Winning Tired of Winning  Jon Baskin I Am Madame Bovary Anastasia Berg Closing of the American Mind Jacob Hamburger Switching Off  Rachel Wiseman Thinking Ahead Innocence Abroad Ursula Lindsey This, Too, Was History Peter C. Baker The Dictatorship of the Present John Michael Colón Leaving Herland Nora Caplan-Bricker It’s All Just Beginning Justin E. H. Smith List of Contributors Acknowledgments

About the Author :
The Point is a Chicago-based magazine of philosophical writing on contemporary life and culture. Founded by three graduate students at the University of Chicago in 2009, it has become a nationally recognized home for today's most thought-provoking essays, criticism and intellectual journalism.

Review :
"The Point’s writers and editors receive simultaneous instruction from, on the one hand, worldly events and daily experiences, and on the other hand the great lineage of humanistic thought that dwells on reality’s fundamental, unchanging truths. The humanistic magazine converses with the world, sometimes offering guidance, other times listening—but its defining aim is to contribute to public discourse. It is a bridge, in a way, between the active and contemplative lives." "There’s very little surprise in writing today. From the first sentences of most articles, you can tell which of a rather limited collection of categories the piece will fall into: wokeism or anti-wokeism, Trumpism or Resistance, generic secularism or uncritical progressivism or defensive traditionalism. The Opening of the American Mind, a collection of essays from the first decade of The Point magazine, is a welcome exception." “The Point is unique among the intellectual journals of our time in its genuine openness to a range of perspectives, and its commitment to pluralism reflects a conviction that thought cuts deepest when it is permitted to find its own path. The essays in this volume are without exception lucid, striking, intelligent, and well argued; they are also idiosyncratic, surprising, and original. I don’t always agree with each author, but I leave each piece having learned something new.” “It is no exaggeration to say that intellectual discourse in America is in a state of crisis, assaulted on both sides by the anti-intellectual and the overcorrecting. What we need is clear and rigorous public thinking capable of rendering our chaotic society and each other more legible. What we often get instead is tribal posturing, clichés of thought and language meant to signal neither openness nor generosity but conformity. This is why I am so grateful a venue as brilliantly multifaceted and fearless as The Point is celebrating its first decade of intellectual stewardship. The American mind remains open.”