About Thomas Sowell
American economist and social theorist (b. 1930), senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a prolific author across economics, race, education, and the history of ideas. A student of Milton Friedman who grew up in Harlem, Sowell became the most prominent Black conservative intellectual in the United States, known for marshalling history and data against prevailing progressive explanations of inequality.
Books by Thomas Sowell
A Conflict of Visions
The single most useful map of why people disagree about politics. Sowell argues that beneath specific issues lie two opposed visions of human nature: the 'constrained' vision (humans are flawed and limited, so we rely o…
Read about this book →Basic Economics
An accessible pro-market introduction to incentives, tradeoffs, prices, and unintended consequences.
Read about this book →Black Rednecks and White Liberals
The most cited conservative challenge to the dominant account of race in America, and a useful opposing view on any race or justice route. Sowell argues that much of what is attributed to slavery or systemic racism is b…
Read about this book →Discrimination and Disparities
A pointed empirical challenge to a now-common assumption: that unequal outcomes between groups are, by themselves, proof of discrimination. Marshalling data across countries and history, Sowell argues that disparities h…
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