The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America (New Republic Book) English Language Edition

by Steven Fraser (Author)

18 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0465006939

ISBN-10: 9780465006939

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The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray has generated a firestorm of debate, confirming for some their secret belief in the innate inferiority of certain ”races” or ethnic groups, angering many who view the book as an ill-concealed racist manifesto, and worrying untold others who fear the further racial polarization of American society. In The Bell Curve Wars, a group of our country's most distinguished intellectuals dismantles the alleged scientific foundations and criticizes the alarming public policy conclusions of this incendiary book.Anyone who has wondered about the connection among genes, race, and intelligence, all those anxious about racial antagonisms in our nation, those who question the efficacy of social welfare programs, all those troubled but unconvinced by Herrnstein and Murray's book, will want to read The Bell Curve Wars.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of articles by 19 journalists and academics represents a mostly effective counterattack against Richard Herrnstein's and Charles Murray's controversial bestseller, The Bell Curve. Stephen Jay Gould leads off by refuting the earlier book's central argument: that racial differences in IQ are due mostly to genes. Howard Gardner adds that East Asian examples show that culture, not genetics, is key. Alan Wolfe even doubts that an "economic class structure has been replaced by a cognitive" one. Some contributors offer useful context: Henry Louis Gates Jr. notes that The Bell Curve appeared in a time of diminished liberalism, Randall Kennedy observes that its prominence stems from problems in our market-driven intellectual culture and Jacqueline Jones tartly scores its authors' "wide-eyed, romantic view of the past." Several authors?including Mickey Kaus, Martin Peretz and Leon Wieseltier?reprise pieces from a New Republic issue devoted to The Bell Curve. This collection, unfortunately, has the flaws of a rush job: the contributors, notably the conservative Thomas Sowell, do not respond to each other. (Sowell criticizes the genetics argument but believes that Herrnstein and Murray demolished double standards regarding college admissions and "race norming" on employment tests.) Moreover, this book could have used a solid postmortem on the press coverage and hype surrounding The Bell Curve's publication.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Fraser, the vice president and executive editor of Basic Books, has gathered individual pieces from some 20 contributors, well-known professionals ranging, alphabetically, from Howard Gardner to Alan Wolfe. In his introduction, Fraser avers that "taken together [these essays] comprise a powerful antidote to a work [Richard Hernstein and Charles Murray's The Bell Curve, Free Pr., 1994] of dubious premises and socially alarming preductions." Joint essayists Jeffrey Rosen and Charles Lane's representative position is that "The Bell Curve deserves critical attention, not public smearing and uncritical private acceptance." The critical attention as expressed throughout this collection is stimulating, reasoned, lively, and challenging. An excellent and thoughtful compendium; highly recommended for an academic and general audience. [An interview with Steven Fraser appears on p. 103.?Ed.]?Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology Lib., Alfred.
-?Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology Lib., Alfred,
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Series: New Republic Book
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Basic Books; English Language edition (April 7, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780465006939
ISBN-13: 978-0465006939
ASIN: 0465006930
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 18 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,324,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1570 in Books > Medical Books > Basic Sciences > Genetics
- #2172 in Books > Education & Teaching > Schools & Teaching > Education Theory > Educational Psychology
- #6891 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > African-American Studies

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Mark V Anderson

Some Good Amongst the Ranting

July 21, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The Bell Curve Wars is a collection of essays disputing the findings of the Bell Curve (although one essay was in favor). I thought the Bell Curve was a brilliant scientific treatise about subjects that are too often ignored: the importance of intelligence to success in life, and the correlation of intelligence with race. But I knew that many considered it pseudo-science, so I decided I should read this, the most popular book of these opponents.

Even though the Bell Curve only spent half a chapter on the genetic basis of the Black/White difference of intelligence, 90% of the Bell Curve Wars was about this topic.

I gave this book two stars because there were occasional good points made in the book, although these points were difficult to find amongst all the ideological ranting.

Most of the writers were very unsophisticated in their argumentation. They couldn’t conceive that someone who finds a difference in intelligence between Blacks and Whites could nevertheless be non-racist. They seemed to disfavor the scientific method of following the evidence, even if it leads to a conclusion one wishes was not true.

There were three essays that had possible worthwhile points of evidence in dispute of the Bell Curve:
1) Gould, who discussed factor analysis as a reason that all the significant intelligence correlations in the Bell Curve were not significant at all. I think it unlikely that Gould’s analysis is mathematically correct, but it may be a valid counter point.
2) Nisbett, who cited several studies indicating that the IQ variation between the races is not genetic. He also argues that there have been many successful interventions to bring up low IQs. This last was not true when he wrote it, and still isn’t true 20 years later. But it is worth discussing, since past failure does not mean there will never be success.
3) Wolfe, who argued that the cognitive elite is not taking over, as argued in the Bell Curve. A small piece of the Bell Curve, but worth more discussion.

There were several essays that were simply political rants and not worth reading (Wieseltier, Lind, Kennedy).

The worst essays were those that argued that learning an unpleasant scientific truth is worse than not knowing the truth (Glazer, Patterson, Jones, Gates).

A couple of essays argued that correlation doesn’t equal causation (Sowell, Judis), but they didn’t seem to realize that the importance of the Bell Curve correlations were mostly not contingent on IQ being causes. Also neither proposed a theory explaining these correlations being other than the common sense belief that IQ caused the other behaviors, so there is little merit to their complaints.

There were a few other isolated comments of interest, but they were hard to find in all the dreck.

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J. Davis

Thoughtful analysis of a controversial book

November 25, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The Bell Curve, ignited a fury when it was published in the mid 90s. Here a number of reviewers, most of whom with solid academic credentials, evaluate the science/arguments of the Bell Curve. Their criticisms are pretty persuasive to me, althought that may be due to my confirmation bias. Only one of the writers is a conservative, Thomas Sowell, and even he is somewhat critical.

An important contribution to the debate on a very controversial subject-- the relationship between race and intelligence.

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DJ MichaelAngelo

biased dreck - more emotional than factual

November 30, 2013

Format: Paperback

I tried to give this book a fair shake, even though its Introduction made it pretty clear that this Steven Fraser character had a preconceived notion of exactly which side of the fence he was on, and had no interest in collecting editorials from writers who did not share his own (inaccurate) opinion. I made it about 1/3 way through the collection of chapters (the most even-handed and rational one being "Ethnicity And IQ" by Thomas Sowell) before my journey was abruptly terminated by the baffling ludicrous ramblings of Jacqueline Jones. This was one of these tirades you'd expect to read on a lawyer blog, or ACLU fansite....I don't even have to look at a picture of this nut to guess her race. Probably a feminist too, "equal opportunity" crusader, activist, and ready to jump down anyone's throat at the defense of any (real or imagined) long-suffering minority group out there. Just your typical hand-wringing, bleeding heart liberal with all the light-heartedness & fun of an engineer. I mean shoot, the essay title itself "Back To The Future With The Bell Curve: Jim Crow, Slavery, And G" is enough to instantly alert you to what kind of a personality this Jacqueline Jones lady really is. I managed to finish her ridiculous tirade, but that was enough to make me stop reading right there. I get it that people are emotional about this issue, but the authors of "The Bell Curve" put YEARS of their life to create 100's upon 100's of pages, and more facts, statistics, numbers, and research than you can shake a stick at. Most of these chapter authors in THIS book however, didn't even come CLOSE to being able to refute the cold hard evidence - they just bellyached about how un-PC it is, and unfair, etc, etc. A lot of whining, but very little else.

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