The Opening of the American Mind

Book excerpt: "Launched from the campus of the University of Chicago in 2008 by three Social Thought graduate students, The Point has since become one of the country's most indispensable intellectual outlets, reflecting on the changing face of American politics and culture for over a decade now. This collection gathers some of the best pieces of The Point's first ten years, reflecting a period that spans from the utopianism of Obama's ascendancy to the despondency and cynicism of the Trump era. With a unique grounding in philosophy and literature, the essays and symposia of The Point come from diverse voices and are marked by the conviction that there is a virtue to questioning received wisdom, no matter what wisdom you have received. This energetic and remarkable tour through the pages of The Point takes us from the early optimism of the Obama presidency to the emergence of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street to more somber reflections on thinking in the age of Trump. But the collection ultimately aims to inspire rather than stultify, pointing to the passionate repersonalization of politics in the face of disappointment and tragedy. Ultimately, the collection aims to challenge its readers to think outside their common sense and go beyond their comfort zones, to consider the reality of alternative political ideals in their full reality and promise, and to retain the primacy of thinking above and beyond political strategy"--