In 1993, he joined the journalism faculty of the University of Iowa, where he serves as professor[citation needed] and Bessie Dutton Murray Professional Scholar.
He wrote the book Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America, a look at a Chabad hasidic community that moved into a small Midwestern town.
[citation needed] Tears of the Mermaid, his book about the history of pearls and the people who collect, trade, sell, and obsess over them, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2009.
[4] In an e-mail to a fellow faculty member, Bloom said that he submitted the column to more than 40 publications before The Atlantic Online accepted it; among those that rejected it were Politico.
[6] The article provoked outrage from many Iowans, who took offense at Bloom's negative tone, broad stereotypes, and factual errors.