Thomas Sowell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Sowell
A dark haired man, wearing glasses and a suit and tie, looks into the camera
Born (1930-06-30) June 30, 1930 (age 91)
Gastonia, North Carolina, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Alma Parr
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1975)​

Mary Ash
​
(m. 1981)​
Children2
Institution
  • Cornell University
  • Brandeis University
  • Urban Institute
  • University of California, Los Angeles
  • Hoover Institution at Stanford University
Field
School or
tradition		Chicago School
Alma mater
  • Harvard University (BA)
  • Columbia University (MA)
  • University of Chicago (PhD)
Doctoral
advisor		George Stigler
InfluencesFriedrich Hayek
Milton Friedman
Contributions
Awards
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Years of service1951–1953
WebsiteOfficial website

Thomas Sowell (/soʊl/; born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Born in North Carolina, Sowell grew up in Harlem, New York. Due to financial issues and deteriorated home conditions, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School[1] and later served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. Upon returning to the United States, Sowell enrolled at Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude[2] in 1958. He received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1959, and earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968.

Sowell has served on the faculties of several universities, including Cornell University and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks such as the Urban Institute. Since 1980, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he served as the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy. Sowell writes from a libertarian–conservative perspective. Sowell has written more than thirty books, and his work has been widely anthologized. He is a National Humanities Medal recipient for innovative scholarship which incorporated history, economics and political science.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina. His father died shortly before he was born, leaving behind Sowell's mother, a housemaid, who already had four children. A great-aunt and her two grown daughters adopted Sowell and raised him.[1] In his autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, Sowell wrote that his childhood encounters with white people were so limited that he did not know that blond was a hair color.[3] When Sowell was nine, his family moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Harlem, New York City, for greater opportunities, joining in the large-scale trend of African-American migration from the American South to the North.

He qualified for Stuyvesant High School, a prestigious academic high school in New York City; he was the first in his family to study beyond the sixth grade. However, he was forced to drop out at age 17 because of financial difficulties and problems in his home.[1] Sowell held a number of positions, including one at a machine shop and another as a delivery man for Western Union;[4] he tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948.[5] He was drafted into the military in 1951, during the Korean War, and was assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps. Because of his experience in photography, Sowell became a Marine Corps photographer.[1]

Higher education and early career[]

After his honorable discharge, Sowell worked a civil service job in Washington, DC, and attended night classes at Howard University, a historically black college.[6] His high scores on the College Board exams and recommendations by two professors helped him gain admission to Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.[1][7] He earned a master's degree from Columbia University the following year.[7]

Sowell has said that he was a Marxist "during the decade of my 20s"; accordingly, one of his earliest professional publications was a sympathetic examination of Marxist thought vs. Marxist–Leninist practice.[8] However, his experience working as a federal government intern during the summer of 1960 caused him to reject Marxian economics theory in favor of free market economics. During his work, Sowell discovered an association between the rise of mandated minimum wages for workers in the sugar industry of Puerto Rico and the rise of unemployment in that industry. Studying the patterns led Sowell to theorize that the government employees who administered the minimum wage law cared more about their own jobs than the plight of the poor.[9]

Sowell received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968.[7] His dissertation was titled "Say's Law and the General Glut Controversy".[10] Sowell had initially chosen Columbia University to study under George Stigler, who would later receive the Nobel Prize in Economics. When he learned that Stigler had moved to the University of Chicago, he followed him there.

Career[]

From 1965 to 1969, Sowell was an assistant professor of economics at Cornell University. Writing 30 years later about the 1969 takeover by black Cornell students of Willard Straight Hall, Sowell characterized the students as "hoodlums" with "serious academic problems [who were] admitted under lower academic standards", and noted "it so happens that the pervasive racism that black students supposedly encountered at every turn on campus and in town was not apparent to me during the four years that I taught at Cornell and lived in Ithaca."[11]

Sowell has taught economics at Howard University, Rutgers, Cornell, Brandeis University, Amherst College, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1980, he has been a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he holds a fellowship named after Rose and Milton Friedman, his mentor.[7][12] In addition, Sowell appeared several times on William F. Buckley Jr.'s show Firing Line, during which he discussed the economics of race and privatization.

In 1987, Sowell testified in favor of federal appeals court judge Robert Bork during the hearings for Bork's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In his testimony, Sowell said that Bork was "the most highly qualified nominee of this generation" and that what he viewed as judicial activism, a concept that Bork opposed as a self-described originalist and textualist, "has not been beneficial to minorities."[13]

In a review of Sowell's 1987 book, A Conflict of Visions, Larry D. Nachman in Commentary magazine described Sowell as a leading representative of the Chicago school of economics.[14]

Personal life[]

Previously married to Alma Jean Parr from 1964 to 1975, Sowell married Mary Ash in 1981.[15] He has two children, John and Lorraine.[16][17][18]

In 2007, Sowell commented that modern television talk shows did not match the quality of David Susskind's Open End or The University of Chicago Roundtable and that Meet the Press moderated by Tim Russert was unlike the shows moderated by Lawrence Spivak or Bill Monroe.[19] Sowell is also known for his disdain of self-promotion.[20]

Writings and thought[]

Themes of Sowell's writing range from social policy on race, ethnic groups, education, and decision-making, to classical and Marxian economics, to the problems of children perceived as having disabilities.

Sowell had a nationally syndicated column distributed by Creators Syndicate that was published in Forbes magazine, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The New York Post, and other major newspapers, as well as online on websites such as RealClearPolitics, Townhall, WorldNetDaily, and the Jewish World Review.[21] Sowell commented on current issues, which include liberal media bias;[22] judicial activism (while defending originalism);[23][24] intact dilation and extraction (commonly known as, and described in U.S. federal law as, partial-birth abortion);[25] minimum wage; universal health care; the tension between government policies, programs, and protections and familial autonomy; affirmative action; government bureaucracy;[26] gun control;[27] militancy in U.S. foreign policy; the war on drugs, and multiculturalism.[28] According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Sowell was the most cited black economist between 1991 and 1995, and second most cited between 1971 and 1990.[29]

On December 27, 2016, Sowell announced the end of his syndicated column, writing that, at age 86, "the question is not why I am quitting, but why I kept at it so long," and cited a desire to focus on his photography hobby.[30]

A documentary detailing his career entitled "Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World" was released on January 25, 2021, by the Free to Choose Network.[31][32]

Economic and political ideology[]

While often described as a black conservative, he prefers not to be labeled, having stated, "I prefer not to have labels, but I suspect that 'libertarian' would suit me better than many others, although I disagree with the libertarian movement on a number of things."[33] Sowell primarily writes on economic subjects, generally advocating a free market approach to capitalism.[34] Sowell opposes the Federal Reserve, arguing that it has been unsuccessful in preventing economic depressions and limiting inflation.[35] Sowell described his serious study of Karl Marx in his autobiography; he opposes Marxism, providing a critique in his book Marxism: Philosophy and Economics (1985).

Sowell has also written a trilogy of books on ideologies and political positions, including A Conflict of Visions, in which he speaks on the origins of political strife; The Vision of the Anointed, in which he compares the conservative/libertarian and liberal/progressive worldviews; and The Quest for Cosmic Justice, in which, as in many of his other writings, he outlines his thesis of the need for intellectuals, politicians, and leaders to fix and perfect the world in utopian and ultimately, he posits, disastrous fashions. Separate from the trilogy, but also in discussion of the subject, he wrote Intellectuals and Society, building on his earlier work, in which he discusses what he argues to be the blind hubris and follies of intellectuals in a variety of areas.

His book Knowledge and Decisions, a winner of the 1980 Law and Economics Center Prize, was heralded as a "landmark work," selected for this prize "because of its cogent contribution to our understanding of the differences between the market process and the process of government." In announcing the award, the centre acclaimed Sowell, whose "contribution to our understanding of the process of regulation alone would make the book important, but in reemphasizing the diversity and efficiency that the market makes possible, [his] work goes deeper and becomes even more significant."[36] Friedrich Hayek wrote: "In a wholly original manner [Sowell] succeeds in translating abstract and theoretical argument into highly concrete and realistic discussion of the central problems of contemporary economic policy."[37]

Sowell also favors decriminalization of all drugs,[38] and occasionally writes on the subject of gun control; for example:[27] "One can cherry-pick the factual studies, or cite some studies that have subsequently been discredited, but the great bulk of the studies show that gun control laws do not in fact control guns. On net balance, they do not save lives, but cost lives."

Race and ethnicity[]

Sowell argues that systemic racism is an untested, questionable hypothesis that is a piece of propaganda pushed on the American people. Sowell has said that "it really has no meaning that can be specified and tested in the way that one tests hypotheses" and "it's one of many words that I don't think even the people who use it have any clear idea what they're saying". He has argued that it is a propaganda tactic akin to those used by Joseph Goebbels because it comes with an attitude that it must be "repeated long enough and loud enough" until it is believed and people "cave in" to it.[39][40]

In several of his works—including The Economics and Politics of Race (1983), Ethnic America (1981), Affirmative Action Around the World (2004), and other books—Sowell challenges the notion that black progress is due to progressive government programs or policies. He claims that many problems identified with blacks in modern society are not unique, neither in terms of American ethnic groups, nor in terms of a rural proletariat struggling with disruption as it became urbanized, as discussed in his Black Rednecks and White Liberals (2005).

Sowell also writes on racial topics, typically critical of affirmative action and race-based quotas.[41][42] He takes strong issue with the notion of government as a helper or savior of minorities, arguing that the historical record shows quite the opposite. In Affirmative Action Around the World,[43] Sowell holds that affirmative action affects more groups than is commonly understood, though its impacts occur through different mechanisms, and has long since ceased to favor blacks.

One of the few policies that can be said to harm virtually every group in a different way.… Obviously, whites and Asians lose out when you have preferential admission for black students or Hispanic students—but blacks and Hispanics lose out because what typically happens is the students who have all the credentials to succeed in college are admitted to colleges where the standards are so much higher that they fail.[44]

In Intellectuals and Race (2013), Sowell argues that intelligence quotient (IQ) gaps are hardly startling or unusual between, or within, ethnic groups. He notes that the roughly 15-point gap in contemporary black–white IQ scores is similar to that between the national average and the scores of certain ethnic white groups in years past, in periods when the nation was absorbing new immigrants.[45]

Late-talking and the Einstein syndrome[]

Sowell wrote The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late, a follow-up to his Late-Talking Children, discussing a condition he termed the Einstein syndrome. This book investigates the phenomenon of late-talking children, frequently misdiagnosed with autism or pervasive developmental disorder. He includes the research of Stephen Camarata and Steven Pinker, among others, in this overview of a poorly understood developmental trait. It is a trait which he says affected many historical figures who developed prominent careers, such as physicists Albert Einstein,[46] Edward Teller, and Richard Feynman; mathematician Julia Robinson; and musicians Arthur Rubinstein and Clara Schumann. He makes the case for the theory that some children develop unevenly (asynchronous development) for a period in childhood due to rapid and extraordinary development in the analytical functions of the brain. This may temporarily "rob resources" from neighboring functions such as language development. As such, Sowell disagrees with Simon Baron-Cohen's speculation that Einstein may have had Asperger syndrome.[47]

Politics[]

In a Townhall editorial, titled "The Bush Legacy", Sowell assessed President George W. Bush as "a mixed bag" but "an honorable man."[48] Sowell was strongly critical of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and officially endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries in a February article.[49] However, he indicated that he would vote in the general election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, due to fears about the appointments Clinton would possibly make to the Supreme Court.

In 2020, Sowell wrote that if the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, it could signal a point of no return for the United States, a tipping point akin to the fall of the Roman Empire. In an interview in July 2020, he stated that "the Roman Empire overcame many problems in its long history but eventually it reached a point where it could no longer continue on, and much of that was from within, not just the barbarians attacking from outside." Sowell wrote that if Biden became President, the Democratic Party would have a huge amount of control over the country and if this happened, they could twin with the "radical left" and ideas such as defunding the police could come to fruition.[40][50]

Donald Trump[]

Two weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Sowell urged voters to vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. In 2018, when asked on his thoughts of Trump's presidency, Sowell replied "I think he's better than the previous president."[51]

In March 2019, Sowell commented on the public's response to mainstream media's allegations that Trump is a racist: "What's tragic is that there's so many people out there who simply respond to words rather than ask themselves 'Is what this person says true? How can I check it?' And so on."[52] A month later, Sowell again defended Trump against media charges of racism, stating: "I've seen no hard evidence. And, unfortunately, we're living in a time where no one expects hard evidence. You just repeat some familiar words and people will react pretty much the way Pavlov's dog was conditioned to react to certain sounds."[53]

Education[]

Sowell has written about education throughout his career. He has argued for the need for reform of the school system in the United States. In his latest book, Charter Schools and Their Enemies (2020), Sowell compares the educational outcomes of school children educated at charter schools with those at conventional public schools. In his research, Sowell first explains the need and his methodology for choosing comparable students—both ethnically and socioeconomically—before listing his findings. He presents the case that charter schools on the whole do significantly better in terms of educational outcomes than conventional schools.[54][55][56]

Sowell also writes about the importance of education for young people. He argues that many schools are failing children in their educations. This is for numerous reasons among which he argues are that indoctrination has taken the place of proper education, teaching unions have been making unfair money out of schools and that many schools have become monopolies for educational bureaucracies.[57]

In his book Education: Assumptions Versus History (1986), Sowell analyzes the state of education in US schools and universities. In particular, he examines the experiences of blacks and other ethnic groups in the American education system and identifies the factors and patterns behind both success and failure.[58]

Reception[]

Classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives of different disciplines have received Sowell's work positively.[59][60][61][62] Among these, he has been noted for his originality, great depth and breadth,[63][64] clarity of expression, and thoroughness of research.[65][64][66] Sowell's publications have been received positively by economists Steven Plaut,[66] Steve H. Hanke[67] and John B. Taylor;[68] philosophers Carl Cohen,[69] and Tibor Machan;[70] science historian Michael Shermer;[71] essayist Gerald Early;[72] political scientists Abigail Thernstrom[73] and Charles Murray;[63] psychologists Steven Pinker[74][75] and Jonathan Haidt;[76][77] Josef Joffe, publisher and editor of Die Zeit;[64] Jay Nordlinger, Senior Editor of National Review;[60] theater critic and political commentator Kevin D. Williamson;[59] Walter E. Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University; and publishing executive Steve Forbes.[61]

Conversely, James B. Stewart of Penn State wrote a critical review of Black Rednecks and White Liberals, calling it "the latest salvo in Thomas Sowell's continuing crusade to represent allegedly dysfunctional value orientations and behavioral characteristics of African Americans as the principal reasons for persistent economic and social disparities." Other academics such as Hampton University economist Bernadette Chachere, Harvard University sociologist William Julius Wilson, social scientist Richard Coughlin, and Stanford law professor Richard Thompson Ford have been critical of some of his work in book reviews. Criticisms include failure to take into account discrimination against women at work in Rhetoric or Reality?; the lack of a coherent methodology in Race and Culture: A World View; caricaturing and then attacking opposing theories in Intellectuals and Race.;[78][79][80][81] ignoring the impact of slavery in Black Rednecks and White Liberals;[82] and a failure to account for recent changes in demographics in Wealth, Poverty and Politics.[83] In a review in the Journal of Economic Literature, economist Jennifer Doleac criticized Discrimination and Disparities for ignoring the large economic literature that shows that statistical discrimination and racial animus are real and pervasive (Sowell argues that existing racial disparities are due to accurate sorting based on underlying characteristics, such as education), and that existing evidence indicates that government intervention can achieve societal goals and make markets work more efficiently.[84]

Legacy and honors[]

Career chronology[]

  • Labor Economist, U.S. Department of Labor, June 1961 – August 1962
  • Instructor in Economics, Douglass College, Rutgers University, September 1962 – June 1963
  • Lecturer in Economics, Howard University, September 1963 – June 1964
  • Economic Analyst, American Telephone & Telegraph Co., June 1964 – August 1965
  • Assistant Professor of Economics, Cornell University, September 1965 – August 1969[11]​
  • Associate Professor of Economics, Brandeis University, September 1969 – June 1970
  • Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles, September 1970 – June 1972
  • Project Director, Urban Institute, August 1972 – July 1974
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, July 1976 – March 1977
  • Visiting Professor of Economics, Amherst College, September–December 1977
  • Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, April–August 1977
  • Professor of Economics, UCLA, July 1974 – June 1980
  • Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, September 1980–present

Bibliography[]

Books[]

  • 1971. Economics: Analysis and Issues. Scott Foresman & Co.
  • 1972. Black Education: Myths and Tragedies. David McKay Co. . ISBN 0-679-30015-5 .
  • 1972. Say's Law: A Historical Analysis. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-04166-7.
  • 1974. Classical Economics Reconsidered. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00358-0.
  • 1975. Race and Economics. David McKay Co. ISBN 978-0-679-30262-9.
  • 1980. Knowledge and Decisions. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-03736-0.
  • 1981. Ethnic America: A History . Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02074-7 .
  • 1981. Markets and Minorities. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-04399-2 .
  • 1981. Pink and Brown People: and Other Controversial Essays . Hoover Press . ISBN 0-8179-7532-2.
  • 1983. The Economics and Politics of Race. William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-01891-2.
  • 1984. Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-03113-7.
  • 1985. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. Quill. ISBN 0-688-06426-4.
  • 1986. Education: Assumptions Versus History. Hoover Press. ISBN 0-8179-8112-8.
  • 1987. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles . William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-06912-6 .
  • 1987. Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays. William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-07114-7.
  • 1990. Preferential Policies: An International Perspective. ISBN 0-688-08599-7
  • 1993. Inside American Education. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-5408-2.
  • 1993. Is Reality Optional?: and Other Essays. Hoover. ISBN 978-0-8179-9262-0.
  • 1995. Race and Culture: A World View. ISBN 0-465-06796-4.
  • 1995. The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-08995-X.
  • 1996. Migrations and Cultures: A World View. ISBN 0-465-04589-8. OCLC 41748039.
  • 1998. Conquests and Cultures: An International History. ISBN 0-465-01400-3.
  • 1998. Late-Talking Children. ISBN 0-465-03835-2.
  • 1999. The Quest for Cosmic Justice . ISBN 0-684-86463-0.
  • 2000. A Personal Odyssey. ISBN 0-684-86465-7.
  • 2000. Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy (1st ed.) . Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-08145-2.
  • 2002. Controversial Essays. Hoover. ISBN 0-8179-2992-4.
  • 2002. The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late. ISBN 0-465-08141-X.
  • 2003. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One. ISBN 0-465-08143-6.
  • 2004. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press . ISBN 978-0-300-10775-3 .
  • 2004. Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy (revised and expanded ed.). New York: Basic Books.
  • 2005. Black Rednecks and White Liberals. San Francisco: Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1-59403-086-4.
  • 2006. Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays . Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8179-4752-1 . OCLC 253604328 . ASIN 0817947523 .
  • 2006. On Classical Economics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12606-8.[89]
  • 2007. A Man of Letters. San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books. ISBN 978-1-59403-196-0.
  • 2007. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (3rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00260-3. OCLC 76897806.
  • 2008. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One (2nd ed.). Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00345-7 . OCLC 260206351 .
  • 2008. Economic Facts and Fallacies . Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00349-5. OCLC 1033591370. ASIN 0465003494.
  • 2009. The Housing Boom and Bust. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01880-2.
  • 2010. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02252-6.
  • 2010. Dismantling America: and Other Controversial Essays. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02251-9 . OCLC 688505777 .
  • 2010. Intellectuals and Society . Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01948-9 . Lay summary .
  • 2011. The Thomas Sowell Reader. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02250-2.
  • 2011. Economic Facts and Fallacies, 2nd edition. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465022038
  • 2013. Intellectuals and Race. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-05872-3.
  • 2014. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-06073-3.
  • 2015. Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective.[90]
  • 2016. Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective (2nd ed.). ISBN 978-0-465-09676-3.
  • 2018. Discrimination and Disparities. ISBN 978-1-541-64560-8.
  • 2019. Discrimination and Disparities (revised, enlarged ed.) ISBN 978-1-541-64563-9.
  • 2020. Charter Schools and Their Enemies. ISBN 978-1-541-67513-1.

Selected essays[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Graglia, Nino A. (Winter 2001). "Profile in courage". Hoover Institution Newsletter. Hoover Institution. Archived from the original on September 9, 2005.
  2. ^ "Thomas Sowell". Hoover Institution.
  3. ^ Sowell, A Personal Odyssey, p. 6.
  4. ^ Sowell, A Personal Odyssey, pp. 47, 58, 59, 62.
  5. ^ Nordlinger, Jay. February 21, 2011. "A lion in high summer: Thomas Sowell, charging ahead." National Review 63(3):43–45.
  6. ^ Sowell, Thomas (2000). "A Personal Odyssey from Howard to Harvard and Beyond". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (30): 122–128. doi:10.2307/2679117. ISSN 1077-3711. JSTOR 2679117.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Sowell, Thomas. "Curriculum vita". TSowell.com. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  8. ^ Sowell, Thomas. 1963. "Karl Marx and the Freedom of the Individual." Ethics 73(2):120.
  9. ^ Sawhill, Ray (November 10, 1999). "Black and right". Salon.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2000.
  10. ^ Sowell, Thomas (1968). Say's Law and the General Glut Controversy (PhD dissertation). University of Chicago.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Sowell, Thomas (May 3, 1999). "The Day Cornell Died". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  12. ^ "Thomas Sowell". Hoover Institution. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  13. ^ Greenhouse, Linda (September 26, 1987). "Legal Establishment Divided Over Bork Nomination". The New York Times. Retrieved November 18, 2011. Video of Sowell's testimony at C-SPAN
  14. ^ Nachman, Larry D. March 1987. "'A Conflict of Visions', by Thomas Sowell." Commentary.
  15. ^ Sowell, A Personal Odyssey, pp. 162–163, 253, 278.
  16. ^ "Q & A Thomas Sowell, April 6, 2005". C-Span.
  17. ^ "Thomas Sowell Facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Thomas Sowell". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  18. ^ "Sowell, Thomas, 1930–". search.credoreference.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  19. ^ "Talk shows". March 20, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  20. ^ "Biography – Thomas Sowell". Thomas Sowell. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  21. ^ "Thomas Sowell". Jewish World Review. November 6, 2009. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  22. ^ "Thomas Sowell, Conservative, Political News". Town hall. March 12, 2004. Retrieved March 12, 2010.[better source needed]
  23. ^ "Judicial Activism Reconsidered". T Sowell. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  24. ^ "Thomas Sowell". Townhall. February 8, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  25. ^ Sowell, Thomas (June 4, 2004). "Thomas Sowell : 'Partial truth' abortion". Townhall. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  26. ^ "International Book Award". Get Abstract. Retrieved July 22, 2011.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b "Do Gun Control Laws Control Guns?". Town hall. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  28. ^ "The Cult of Multiculturalism". National Review Online. October 18, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  29. ^ "The Most Highly Cited Black Economists". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (15): 35–37. 1997. doi:10.2307/2962681. JSTOR 2962681 – via JSTOR.
  30. ^ "Farewell". Real clear politics. December 27, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  31. ^ "Coming in 2021: "Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World"". American Enterprise Institute - AEI. July 9, 2020. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  32. ^ Network, Free To Choose. "Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World". freetochoosenetwork.org. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  33. ^ Sawhill, Ray. 1999. "Black and Right: Thomas Sowell Talks About the Arrogance of Liberal Elites and the Loneliness of the Black Conservative." Salon. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  34. ^ "Thomas Sowell". Jewish World Review. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  35. ^ "Thomas Sowell: Federal Reserve a 'Cancer'". It makes sense (World wide web log). Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  36. ^ "Knowledge and Decisions by Thomas Sowell, 1996". Retrieved October 11, 2018.[dead link]
  37. ^ Hayek, Friedrich (December 1981). "The Best Book on General Economics in Many a Year". Reason. 13. Reason Foundation. pp. 47–49.
  38. ^ Sowell, Thomas (1987); Compassion Versus Guilt, and Other Essays; ISBN 0-688-07114-7.
  39. ^ Chasmar, Jessica (July 13, 2020). "Thomas Sowell: Joe Biden win could signal 'point of no return for this country'". The Washington Times.
  40. ^ Jump up to: a b Creitz, Charles (July 12, 2020). "Thomas Sowell says concept of systemic racism 'has no meaning,' warns US could reach 'point of no return'". Fox News Website.
  41. ^ "Thomas Sowell: "Blacks and Bootstraps."". Columnists. Townhall. August 10, 2000. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  42. ^ "Thomas Sowell: "Quote 'Logic'"". Columnists. Town hall. April 22, 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
  43. ^ Sowell, Thomas (October 30, 2004). "Affirmative Action around the World | Hoover Institution". Hoover.org. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  44. ^ Miller, Andrew (July 13, 2020). "Thomas Sowell: Idea of 'systemic racism' a lie that has 'no meaning' and is reminiscent of Nazi propaganda". Washington Examiner. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  45. ^ Sowell, Thomas (2013). Intellectuals and race. Ashland, OR: Blackstone Audio. ISBN 978-1482923537.
  46. ^ Wolff, Barbara, and Hananya Goodman. "The Legend of the Dull-Witted Child Who Grew Up to Be a Genius." The Albert Einstein Archives. IS: Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  47. ^ Sowell, Thomas (2001). The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late. Basic Books. pp. 89–150. ISBN 978-0-465-08140-0.
  48. ^ Sowell, Thomas (January 16, 2009). "The Bush Legacy". Town hall.
  49. ^ Sowell, Thomas. "Tragedy and Choices". Real Clear Politics.
  50. ^ "Thomas Sowell: It's the 'Point of No Return' If Biden Gets Elected". grabien.
  51. ^ Malagisi, Christopher, host. 23 April 2018. "Interview with the Legendary Thomas Sowell: His New Book, His Legacy, and What He Thinks of Trump and the Future of America" (podcast). Ep. 5 in The Conservative Book Club Podcast. US: The Conservative Book Club.
  52. ^ "Sowell: Politicians using race as their ticket to whatever racket they're running." The Ingraham Angle. Fox News. March 6, 2019. via YouTube.
  53. ^ Sowell, Thomas. March 22, 2019. "No Hard Evidence Trump is a racist." Fox & Friends. – via RealClearPolitics.
  54. ^ Williams, Walter (July 6, 2020). "Williams: Charter schools and their enemies". Toronto Sun. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  55. ^ "The Collapsing Case against Charter Schools". National Review. July 9, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  56. ^ Carden, Art. "Charters Close The Achievement Gap, Says Thomas Sowell". Forbes. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  57. ^ Williamson, Kevin D. (July 9, 2020). "The Collapsing Case against Charter Schools". Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  58. ^ "Education: Assumptions Versus History". Contemporary Thinkers. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  59. ^ Jump up to: a b Williamson, Kevin D. (December 1, 2011). "Thomas Sowell: Peerless Nerd, The truth about one of America's Giants". commentarymagazine.com. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  60. ^ Jump up to: a b Nordlinger, Jay (August 29, 2005). "Chewing Nails". www.nationalreview.com. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  61. ^ Jump up to: a b Forbes, Steve (November 4, 2015). "Turning the Page on 2015". Forbes.com. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  62. ^ Higgins, James (Spring 2001). "Tom Sowell in Practice and Theory". Claremont Review of Books. Vol. 1 no. 3. Retrieved December 16, 2020. Higgins describes Sowell as having written a "brilliant trilogy on culture and societies (Race and Culture, Migrations and Culture, and Conquests and Culture). [...] His stature must be attributed to his ability to bring light where there is darkness and logic where there is confusion to public policy in general and economics in particular."
  63. ^ Jump up to: a b "Thomas Sowell – Seeing Clearly". AEI. December 19, 2005. Archived from the original on December 8, 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  64. ^ Jump up to: a b c Joffe, Josef (March 1995). "Nature, Nurture, Culture". Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  65. ^ "Turning The Page On 2015". Forbes. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  66. ^ Jump up to: a b Plaut, Steven (December 1, 1983). "Unconventional Truths". Commentary Magazine. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  67. ^ Hanke, Steve H. (July 1, 2020). "Thomas Sowell at 90 Is More Relevant Than Ever". Cato. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  68. ^ Taylor, John B. (June 30, 2020). "Happy Birthday and a Terrific New Book by Thomas Sowell". Economicsone. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  69. ^ Cohen, Carl (April 2004). "Affirmative Action Around the World by Thomas Sowell". Commentary. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  70. ^ Machan, Tibor (September 1985). "Marxism Demystified". Reason. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  71. ^ Shermer, Michael (September 6, 2011). "Liberty and Science". Cato Institute. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  72. ^ Early, Gerald (May 22, 2018). "The Black Conservative Lion in Winter". The Common Reader. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  73. ^ "Clear Thinking on Race". National Review Online. National Review. April 16, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  74. ^ Pinker, Steven (2002), The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, New York: Penguin Books, pp. 286–296
  75. ^ Sailer, Steve (October 30, 2002). "Q&A with Steven Pinker, author of The Blank Slate". United Press International. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  76. ^ Haidt, Jonathan (2012), The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, New York: Vintage Books, pp. 338–340
  77. ^ Jenkins, Holman W. (June 29, 2012). "The Weekend Interview with Jonathan Haidt: He Knows Why We Fight". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  78. ^ Chachere, Bernadette P. (December 11, 2015). "The economics of Thomas Sowell: A critique of markets and minorities". The Review of Black Political Economy. 12 (2): 163–177. doi:10.1007/BF02873530. S2CID 154870459.
  79. ^ Wilson, William Julius (June 24, 1984). "Hurting the Disadvantaged". The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2011.
  80. ^ Ford, Richard Thompson (October 11, 2013). "The Simple Falsehoods of Race". The American Interest. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  81. ^ "Book Reviews: Comparative Politics. "Race and Culture: A World View by Thomas Sowell"". American Political Science Review.
  82. ^ Stewart, James B. (October 1, 2006). "Thomas Sowell's Quixotic Quest to Denigrate African American Culture: A Critique". The Journal of African American History. 91 (4): 459–466. doi:10.1086/JAAHv91n4p459. S2CID 141293584.
  83. ^ Pearlstein, Steven (September 4, 2015). "Here's why poor people are poor, says a conservative black academic". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  84. ^ Doleac, Jennifer L. (2021). "A Review of Thomas Sowell's Discrimination and Disparities" (PDF). Journal of Economic Literature. 59 (2): 574–589. doi:10.1257/jel.20201541. ISSN 0022-0515. Archived from the original on 2021.
  85. ^ Jim Nelson Black (2004). "Freefall of the American university". Nashville WND Books.
  86. ^ Thomas Sowell. "Hoover Institution – Fellows – Thomas Sowell". Hoover.org. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  87. ^ "Hoover Fellow Thomas Sowell Receives Lysander Spooner Award for Applied Economics". Hoover Institution. March 11, 2004.
  88. ^ "Economic Facts and Fallacies Summary". getAbstract. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  89. ^ Berdell, John. 2007. "On Classical Economics" (review). EH.net. Economic History Association.
  90. ^ O’Driscoll Jr., Gerald P. 2016. "Wealth, Poverty and Politics: An International Perspective" (review). Cato Journal 36:196–206. S2CID 132598832.

Further reading[]

External links[]

Retrieved from ""