32 Best Books By Thomas Sowell

In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Thomas Sowell, one of the foremost conservative public intellectuals in this country, argues that political and ideological struggles have led to dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. Pundits and politically motivated economists trumpet ambiguous statistics and sensational theories while ignoring the true determinant of income inequality: the production of wealth. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus exclusively on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture.

Sowell contends that liberals have a particular interest in misreading the data and chastises them for using income inequality as an argument for the welfare state. Refuting Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left, Sowell draws on accurate empirical data to show that the inequality is not nearly as extreme or sensational as we have been led to believe.

Transcending partisanship through a careful examination of data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics reveals the truth about the most explosive political issue of our time.

The bestselling citizen’s guide to economics.

Basic Economics is a citizen’s guide to economics, written for those who want to understand how the economy works but have no interest in jargon or equations. Bestselling economist Thomas Sowell explains the general principles underlying different economic systems: capitalist, socialist, feudal, and so on. In readable language, he shows how to critique economic policies in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the goals they proclaim. With clear explanations of the entire field, from rent control and the rise and fall of businesses to the international balance of payments, this is the first book for anyone who wishes to understand how the economy functions.

This fifth edition includes a new chapter explaining the reasons for large differences in wealth and income between nations.

Drawing on lively examples from around the world and from centuries of history, Sowell explains basic economic principles for the general public in plain English.

Quotes from Basic Economics;

“Bombing does more immediate damage to a city, but many cities have rapidly rebuilt in the post-war world. Rent control does more long-lasting damage because people do not understand the basic economics of it.”

“Monopoly is the enemy of efficiency, whether under capitalism or socialism.”

“It does not matter that a law or policy proclaims its goal to be ’affordable housing,’ ’fair trade,’ or ’a living wage.’” What matters is what incentives are created by the specifics of these laws and how people react to such incentives.”

“Our social visions and our rhetoric are about ’the rich’ and ’the poor,’ as if we were talking about people who are born, live and die in poverty or luxury, while the reality is that most Americans do not stay in the same income quintile for as long as a decade.”

“Many apparently humanitarian policies have backfired throughout history because of a failure to understand the role of prices.”

“Fights over which individuals and groups get how big a slice of the pie create the kinds of emotion and controversy on which the media and politicians thrive.”

Thomas Sowell’s incisive critique of the intellectuals’ destructive role in shaping ideas about race in America.

Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense of one that goes to the root of the problem. The role of intellectuals in racial strife is explored in an international context that puts the American experience in a wholly new light.

The views of individual intellectuals have spanned the spectrum, but the views of intellectuals as a whole have tended to cluster. Indeed, these views have clustered at one end of the spectrum in the early twentieth century and then clustered at the opposite end of the spectrum in the late twentieth century. Moreover, these radically different views of race in these two eras were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were very similar in both eras.

Intellectuals and Race are not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, economic, and statistical evidence — all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially intellectuals at the highest levels. Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. The impact of intellectuals’ ideas and crusades on the larger society, both past, and present, is the ultimate concern. These ideas and crusades have ranged widely from racial theories of intelligence to eugenics to “social justice” and multiculturalism.

In addition to in-depth examinations of these and other issues, Intellectuals and Race explores the incentives, the visions, and the rationales that drive intellectuals at the highest levels to conclusions that have often turned out to be counterproductive and even disastrous, not only for particular racial or ethnic groups but for societies as a whole.

A one-volume introduction to over three decades of the wide-ranging writings of one of America’s most respected and cited authors.

These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of a half-century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell’s letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines. The topics range from late-talking children to “tax cuts for the rich,” baseball, race, war, the role of judges, medical care, and the rhetoric of politicians. These topics are dealt with by sometimes drawing on history, sometimes drawing on economics, and sometimes drawing on a sense of humor.

The Thomas Sowell Reader includes essays on:* Social Issues* Economics* Political Issues* Legal Issues* Race and Ethnicity* Educational Issues* Biographical Sketches* Random Thoughts

The influence of intellectuals is not only greater than in previous eras but also takes a very different form from that envisioned by those like Machiavelli and others who have wanted to directly influence rulers. It has not been by shaping the opinions or directing the actions of the holders of power that modern intellectuals have most influenced the course of events, but by shaping public opinion in ways that affect the actions of power holders in democratic societies, whether or not those power holders accept the general vision or the particular policies favored by intellectuals. Even government leaders with disdain or contempt for intellectuals have had to bend to the climate of opinion shaped by those intellectuals.

Intellectuals and Society not only examine the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also analyze the incentives and constraints under which their views and visions have emerged. One of the most surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of society — and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views.

This explosive new book challenges many of the long-prevailing assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals take on not only the trendy intellectuals of our times but also such historic interpreters of American life as Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Law Olmsted. In a series of long essays, this book presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many mistaken and dangerous actions, policies, and trends. It presents eye-opening insights into the historical development of the ghetto culture that is today wrongly seen as a unique black identity–a culture cheered on toward self-destruction by white liberals who consider themselves “friends” of blacks. An essay titled “The Real History of Slavery” presents a jolting re-examination of that tragic institution and the narrow and distorted way it is too often seen today. The reasons for the venomous hatred of Jews, and of other groups like them in countries around the world, are explored in an essay that asks, “Are Jews Generic?” Misconceptions of German history in general, and of the Nazi era in particular, are also re-examined. So too are the inspiring achievements and painful tragedies of black education in the United States. “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” is the capstone of decades of outstanding research and writing on racial and cultural issues by Thomas Sowell.

Economic Facts and Fallacies exposes some of the most popular fallacies about economic issues-and does so in a lively manner and without requiring any prior knowledge of economics by the reader. These include many beliefs widely disseminated in the media and by politicians, such as mistaken ideas about urban problems, income differences, male-female economic differences, as well as economic fallacies about academia, race, and Third World countries. One of the themes of Economic Facts and Fallacies is that fallacies are not simply crazy ideas but in fact, have a certain plausibility that gives them their staying power-and makes careful examination of their flaws both necessary and important, as well as sometimes humorous. Written in the easy-to-follow style of the author’s Basic Economics, this latest book is able to go into greater depth, with real-world examples, on specific issues.

Quotes from Economis Facts and Fallacies;

“Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed because they are consistent with a widely held vision of the world – and this vision is accepted as a substitute for facts.”

“Fallacies are not simply crazy ideas. They are usually both plausible and logical – but with something missing.”

“Many desirable things are advocated without regard to the most fundamental fact of economics, that resources are inherently limited and have alternative uses.”

“Some popular fallacies…are centuries old and were refuted centuries ago, even if they are repackaged in up-to-date rhetoric to suit current times.”

“Perhaps most dangerous of all is the practice of not subjecting fashionable beliefs to the test of facts, but instead accepting or rejecting beliefs according to how well they fit some pre-existing vision of the world.”

“Most male-female economic differences are accounted for by factors other than employer discrimination, but that does not mean that there have been no instances of discrimination.”

“Questions about the existence, magnitude and consequences of racial discrimination cannot be answered with gross statistics.”

“Throughout history, the world has abounded with differences that are today called ‘disparities’ or ‘inequalities,’ even in situations where they cannot be explained by discrimination.”

“Perhaps the biggest fallacy…is the implicit assumption that there is something intellectually baffling or morally wrong about the fact that different nations have different per capita incomes.”

“Some might even say that race itself is a fallacy in a world where racial intermixtures keep increasing…even while the stridency of separate racial identities becomes louder.”

“Gross income differences between groups can easily lead to fallacious conclusions, if various demographic, educational and other differences are ignored.”

“In many kinds of endeavors, the costs of not admitting to being wrong are too high to ignore.”

These wide-ranging essays — on many individual political, economic, cultural, and legal issues — have as a recurring, underlying theme the decline of the values and institutions that have sustained and advanced American society for more than two centuries. This decline has been more than an erosion. It has, in many cases, been a deliberate dismantling of American values and institutions by people convinced that their superior wisdom and virtue must over-ride both the traditions of the country and the will of the people.

Whether these essays (originally published as syndicated newspaper columns) are individually about financial bailouts, illegal immigrants, gay marriage, national security, or the Duke University rape case, the underlying concern is about what these very different kinds of things say about the general direction of American society.

This larger and longer-lasting question is whether the particular issues discussed reflect a degeneration or dismantling of America that we once knew and expected to pass on to our children and grandchildren. There are people who determined that this country’s values, history, laws, traditions, and role in the world are fundamentally wrong and must be changed. Such people will not stop dismantling America unless they get stopped — and the next election may be the last time to stop them before they take the country beyond the point of no return.

The painful and baffling mystery as to why some obviously bright children do not begin talking until long after the “normal” time is explored in this book through personal experiences and the findings of scientific research. The author’s own experiences as the father of such a child led to the formation of a group of more than fifty sets of parents of similar children. The anguish and frustration of these parents as they try to cope with children who do not talk and institutions that do not understand them is a remarkable and moving human story. Fortunately, some of these children turn out to have not only normal intelligence but even outstanding abilities, especially in highly analytical fields such as mathematics and computers. These fascinating stories of late-talking children and the remarkable families from which they come are followed by explorations of scientific research that throw light on unusual development patterns.

Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mindset behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy.

Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. In this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes this pattern. He describes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power: the “constrained” vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfish, and the “unconstrained” vision, in which human nature is malleable and perfectible. A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.

This book is about the great moral issues underlying many of the headline-making political controversies of our times. It is not a comforting book but a book about disturbing and dangerous trends. The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies. Those consequences include the steady and dangerous erosion of fundamental principles of freedom — amounting to a quiet repeal of the American revolution.
The Quest for Cosmic Justice is the summation of a lifetime of study and thought about where we as a society are headed — and why we need to change course before we do irretrievable damage.

One of conservatism’s most articulate voices dissects today’s most important economic, racial, political, education, legal, and social issues, sharing his entertaining and thought-provoking insights on a wide range of contentious subjects. –“This book contains an abundance of wisdom on a large number of economic issues.” –Mises Review

Sowell challenges all the assumptions of contemporary liberalism on issues ranging from the economy to race to education in this collection of controversial essays and captures his thoughts on politics, race, and common sense with a section at the end for thought-provoking quotes.

The Einstein Syndrome is a follow-up to Late-Talking Children, which established Thomas Sowell as a leading spokesman on the subject of late-talking children. While many children who talk late suffer from developmental disorders or autism, there is a certain well-defined group who are developmentally normal or even quite bright, yet who may go past their fourth birthday before beginning to talk. These children are often misdiagnosed as autistic or retarded, a mistake that is doubly hard on parents who must first worry about their apparently handicapped children and then see them lumped into special classes and therapy groups where all the other children are clearly very different. Since he first became involved in this issue in the mid-90s, Sowell has joined with Stephen Camarata of Vanderbilt University, who has conducted a much broader, more rigorous study of this phenomenon than the anecdotes reported in Late-Talking Children. Sowell can now identify a particular syndrome, a cluster of common symptoms and family characteristics, that differentiates these late-talking children from others; relate this syndrome to other syndromes; speculate about its causes, and describe how children with this syndrome are likely to develop.

This book is the culmination of 15 years of research and travels that have taken the author completely around the world twice, as well as on other travels in the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and around the Pacific rim. Its purpose has been to try to understand the role of cultural differences within nations and between nations, today and over centuries of history, in shaping the economic and social fates of peoples and of whole civilizations. Focusing on four major cultural areas(that of the British, the Africans (including the African diaspora), the Slavs of Eastern Europe, and the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere — Conquests and Cultures reveals patterns that encompass not only these peoples but others and help explain the role of cultural evolution in economic, social, and political development.

This essay unscrambles gross misconceptions that have made rational debates about tax policies virtually impossible for decades.

The application of economics to major contemporary real-world problems — housing, medical care, discrimination, the economic development of nations — is the theme of this new book that tackles these and other issues head-on in plain language, as distinguished from the usual jargon of economists. It examines economic policies not simply in terms of their immediate effects but also in terms of their later repercussions, which are often very different and longer-lasting. The interplay of politics with economics is another theme of Applied Economics, whose examples are drawn from experiences around the world, showing how similar incentives and constraints tend to produce similar outcomes among very disparate peoples and cultures.

Quotes from Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One;

“Families, gangs, feudal warlords, insurance companies, partnerships, commodity speculators, and issuers of stocks and bonds are all in the business of reducing and transferring risk.”

“For purposes of economic analysis, what matters is not what goals are being sought but what incentives and constraints are being created in pursuit of those goals.”

“More pedestrians and motorists are likely to suffer injuries or death because more high-risk drivers can afford to be on the roads and highways than could do so if auto insurance rates were allowed to rise to the very high rates required to compensate for the damage done by reckless drivers.”

“As markets replaced politically managed economic decision-making, China experienced one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.”

“Although rent control is often thought of as a way to protect the poor from unaffordable housing, only the poor who initially occupied the rent-controlled housing benefit.”

“As far as the practical effect on patients is concerned, advertising is as much of an ingredient in the drug’s benefits as any of the pharmaceutical components themselves.”

“Paying less and getting less – whether less is defined quantitatively or qualitatively – is no bargain, least of all in the case of medical care.”

“Political thinking tends to conceive of policies, institutions or programs in terms of their hoped-for results – ’drug prevention’ programs, ’profit-making’ enterprise, ’public-interest’ law firms, ’gun control’ laws, and so forth.”

In Wealth, Poverty, and Politics, Thomas Sowell, one of the foremost conservative public intellectuals in this country, argues that political and ideological struggles have led to dangerous confusion about income inequality in America. Pundits and politically motivated economists trumpet ambiguous statistics and sensational theories while ignoring the true determinant of income inequality: the production of wealth. We cannot properly understand inequality if we focus exclusively on the distribution of wealth and ignore wealth production factors such as geography, demography, and culture.

Sowell contends that liberals have a particular interest in misreading the data and chastises them for using income inequality as an argument for the welfare state. Refuting Thomas Piketty, Paul Krugman, and others on the left, Sowell draws on accurate empirical data to show that the inequality is not nearly as extreme or sensational as we have been led to believe.

Transcending partisanship through a careful examination of data, Wealth, Poverty, and Politics reveals the truth about the most explosive political issue of our time.

This classic work by the distinguished economist traces the history of nine American ethnic groups — the Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Chinese, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans.

A collection of essays that discusses such issues as the media, immigration, the minimum wage, and multiculturalism.

Thomas Sowell takes aim at a range of legal, social, racial, educational, and economic issues in this latest collection of his controversial, never-boring, always thought-provoking essays. From “gun control myths” to “mealy mouth media” to “free lunch medicine,” Sowell gets to the heart of the matters we all care about with his characteristically unsparing candor.

An indictment of the American educational system criticizes the fact that the system has discarded the traditional goals of transmitting knowledge and fostering cognitive skills in favor of building self-esteem and promoting social harmony.