Whether you happen to be as hardcore a libertarian and believer in the power of the free market as Sowell or not (I'm not), there is an enormous amount of information here that's worth considering. His ability to present a counter-narrative other currently popular narratives and back it up with mountains of research and data delivered in a matter of fact way is almost unprecedented. He makes a good case that what you've heard about various issues might not be the whole story, the a whole explanation, and here are a ton of facts to that effect and other alternative theories that might explain them better.
Is his own theory the whole picture, the perfect unifying description of the physics of race? Probably not, but it seems very likely that it's a not insignificant portion that needs to be considered and taken into consideration when seeking to address these problems in our own time. At the very least, I think he makes a case for his view of the facts of history that equals or betters its alternatives, and even on a purely practical level has some real potential.
One of the problems with a lot of current race theories is that they don't seem to be able to get the results people (who actually want the problems bettered) want. They often seem to extend rather than resolve the problem, on a purely practical level, to erode rather than increase the ability of everyone to live together and enjoy mutual success and reconciliation. Sowell, ever the pragmatist, isn't very concerned with what would make people feel better or more comfortable, only with what seems to be the case and what would actually help make things better.
And that's a very Sowellian approach. Life, in his view, is not about how you wish the world was, but is about facing up to what it is and making the best compromises you can to get what you want with the least cost, however you might feel about it. His question, I think, would be, what do you value more, your narrative that makes you feel better about yourself and the world, or actually improving your lot? He's not an idealist, he's a pragmatist. Better compared to what, worse compared to what, where is the proof, show me the results, are some of his favorite statements. He's also not one to be impressed by how noble an idea is or how mythic or lovely it sounds or how great it makes us seem or feel if it doesn't actually live up to the facts or produce real results.
Personally, I'm inherently skeptical of some of his own approaches and recommendations. I would temper his libertarianism a bit. But he's surely won my respect as an intellectual more than the vast majority of all thinkers and historians currently writing today.
If I had to sum up his theory, it would be that black people in America today are not primarily held back either their race (as racial supremacists might argue) or racism (personal or structural, as post-modern social justice advocates might argue), but by their own culture and actions. I don't think he's leaving out the possibility that some portion of their position might be and is the result of those forces. His theory, as I take it, is simply that these are not the primary source of the problems for black people today, nor are they the locus of their greateat opportunity for change and empowerment. He constantly turns his gaze on other cultures that have suffered tragedies and injustices and identities how, as a culture, a focus on where we can produce value is more important than how it is distributed, and the value of human capital as the ultimate social and economic power that all people can weird, regardless of their position within a society. Human capital being a kind of social and personal virtue, the kind of wealth that proceeds from being able to trust people within your group, from hard work and dedication and loyalty and care and kindness and faithfulness, from being clever and industrious and creative. Human virtue, he seems to argue, trumps all considerations of political or social influence. It is the primary generative power of social and economic wealth. And it lies within our individual power to seek and obtain. In denying black people the responsibility and the agency to obtain that power, we deny them the birthright of all humanity; we infantilize them, we do them a disservice, not a service. It can be done, he argues from many historical and contemporary examples. And it can be undone, he also argues with many examples. I think Shelby Steele's "White Guilt" is an interesting book to read as a followup to this one.
Sowell isn't here to make either white people or black people feel good or bad about themselves. No one can be held responsible for the history and culture they are born into, he argues, white or black. Nevertheless, unless we shoulder the adult burden of either upholding, wasting, destroying, or surpassing that inheritance, we shall all remain merely children and ineffective, infantilized pawns of our own history. It is within the means of white and black people to lose by personal dissipation everything their predecessors worked for, and it is within the means of black and white people to gain by personal excellence everything their predecessors wished for. In this aspect I take Sowell to be an optimism and an individualist and a humanist. He doesn't write off the influence of other forces, but seeks to return our focus to the source of power and distress closest to us, the deepest well, and the one that is most within out own actual control. As a practical, pragmatic approach, it's hard to argue with. It asks a question of all of us, white or black, of who we could be if we were truly living up to our own greatest ideals. Of what limitations we might overcome, of what futures we might secure for ourselves and our children, as well as what futures we might lose if we don't have a care for ourselves and if we let ourselves be distracted by false promises of power without personal cost. Power, if I take Sowell correctly, does not live in the body politic, but in the human heart, in the family, in our own character. And no policy is good enough to save any society if it loses its focus on that character, nor is any policy powerful enough to long prevent a society from rising if it has that kind of human capital.
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Life changing book!
I am truly amazed that Dr. Sowell has not received a Nobel Prize on the research and the clarity he provides for the historical roads that have lead to where we are as a society today. He explains not only many reasons for the state of affairs in American society concerning African Americans but also treats historical situations of Jews, Germans, and Slavick people's, as well as Southern culture in America.I have not ceased to recommend this book to anybody who has even the slightest inclination to understand the current state of the world because this book touches many things. Also the title seems tongue-in-cheek but is actually quintessential terms for his presentation of Black culture as it has come to be.
Top reviews from other countries
Kyle Watson
The real story behind black culture
Reviewed in Canada on March 13, 2024
Alexander Bargander
A very important book for many reasons
Reviewed in Germany on June 12, 2023Paul Dow
Informative Essays based on empirical evidence
Reviewed in Australia on March 12, 2023
