After reading the appalling book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates I looked for an intelligently written book on race written by a black person. It did not make sense to look for a book on race written by a white person. I was as impressed by the book Intellectuals and Race by Thomas Sowell as I was appalled by the Ta-Nehisi Coates book. Mr. Coates attended Howard University and dropped out of college. Thomas Sowell found Howard University lacking in academic rigor and transferred to Harvard University. Mr. Sowell graduated, Mr. Coates did not. Thomas Sowell went on to get a Masters from Columbia and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. You might think the difference in education between the two authors is responsible for the disparate quality of thought between the two writers, but getting a Ph.D. does not automatically lead to clear thinking. No. There are plenty of Ph.D.s with twisted thinking and intemperate writing. Thomas Sowell is just plain great.
I am now reading A Personal Odyssey by Thomas Sowell, which is a real treat. This week the Wall Street Journal ran an essay by Jason L. Riley, Thomas Sowell, a Fearless Contrarian, Puts Down the Pen, which laments Dr. Sowell quitting his syndicated column as a step towards retirement. Mr. Riley wrote this in his essay: "My friend then wrote down the name of a book, “Civil Rights: Rhetoric or
Reality?” I retrieved it from the school library that afternoon and
read it that same evening. I returned to the library the following day,
checked out the remainder of its Sowell collection, and spent the next
couple of weeks immersed in his writings."
Thomas Sowell was publishing books while I was still in high school. Now that I am in middle age I discover him when he is 86 years old and slowing down. I am glad I finally discovered him. I intend to read more of his books. I will be exploring his personal website, http://www.tsowell.com/, and his web page at the Hoover Institute, http://www.hoover.org/profiles/thomas-sowell, which has links to his articles at Creators Syndicate, http://www.creators.com/read/thomas-sowell.
Thomas Sowell is a national treasure. You might want to check out his books.
Robert
PS, an example of a nutty African American writer can be found in this New York Times article, Michael Eric Dyson Believes in Individual Reparations by ANA MARIE COX JAN. 4, 2017. What he has to say about reparations is absurd.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/magazine/michael-eric-dyson-believes-in-individual-reparations.html
