Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
91 used & new from $1.32

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
The Vision of the Anointed Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
 
 
Are You an Author or Publisher?
Find out how to publish your own Kindle Books
 
  

The Vision of the Anointed Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy (Paperback)

by Thomas Sowell (Author) "Dangers to a society may be mortal without being immediate..." (more)
Key Phrases: systemic causation, prevailing vision, cosmic viewpoint, Supreme Court, United States, Judge Bazelon (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  (108 customer reviews)

List Price: $18.00
Price: $12.24 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $5.76 (32%)
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Tuesday, July 29? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. See details

91 used & new available from $1.32
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 57 used & new from $0.99
 
   

Better Together

Buy this book with A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles by Thomas Sowell today!

The Vision of the Anointed Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles
Buy Together Today: $25.13

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Economic Facts and Fallacies

Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell

4.6 out of 5 stars (45)  $17.16
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning by Jonah Goldberg

4.2 out of 5 stars (306)  $18.45
Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Black Rednecks and White Liberals by Thomas Sowell

4.4 out of 5 stars (80)  $17.13
Knowledge And Decisions

Knowledge And Decisions by Thomas Sowell

4.7 out of 5 stars (20)  $23.40
Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

Basic Economics 3rd Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell

4.5 out of 5 stars (36)  $26.37
Explore similar items : Books (99)

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this broadside against the received wisdom of America's elite liberal intelligentsia, noted conservative Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, offers some strenuous arguments as well as fuzzy generalizations. Thus, his attacks on the war on poverty, sex education and criminal justice policies forged in the 1960s counter some slippery rhetoric by their defenders, yet his suggestion that these policies exacerbated things is questionable. Sowell deconstructs how statistics can be distorted to prove assumptions (that lack of prenatal care is the cause of black infant mortality) and gleefully skewers "Teflon prophets" such as John Kenneth Galbraith (who said that big companies are immune from the market) and Paul Ehrlich (who said starvation loomed). While "the anointed" favor explanations that exempt individuals from personal responsibility and seek painless solutions, those with the "tragic vision" see policies as trade-offs. Sowell scores his targets for disdaining their opponents, but this book also invokes caricature-these days, many of "the anointed" are less unreconstructed than he assumes. Conservative Book Club and Laissez-Faire Book Club selections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Ever the contrarian, this time Sowell targets the rhetorical methods liberals use to support their views of social issues. Usually, they frame a crisis to which the well-educated, articulate liberal, ruthlessly disparaged by Sowell as the "anointed," offers a categorical solution. To reach the solution, the liberal resorts to argumentative means that Sowell regards as fallacious. Examples he cites are the "Aha!" statistic in which condition A (say, infant mortality) is claimed to have cause B (inadequate budgets for prenatal care); or the assertion of a policy preference as a right, which is how a federal judge ordered a public library to allow an odoriferous, boisterous vagrant to roam the stacks--so that he could exercise his "right to receive ideas." These means defend a worldview of perfectible man that Sowell contrasts with the "tragic" view, stemming from human fallibility. Sowell's targets will find his criticisms irksome, if even worthy of their notice, but avid conservatives, for whom Sowell is a true-blue intellectual force, will certainly seize upon his analysis for succor. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
  • Paperback: 305 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books (June 27, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 046508995X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0465089956
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: