Intellectuals and Race

By: Thomas Sowell

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Intellectuals and Race is a radical book in the original sense - 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.

Intellectuals have played a major role in racial issues throughout the centuries. Though their individual views may differ, as a whole their views tend to group, and just over the course of the twentieth century, they have shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. Surprisingly, these radically different views of race were held by intellectuals whose views on other issues were often very similar.

Intellectuals and Race is not, however, a book about history, even though it has much historical evidence, as well as demographic, geographic, and economic evidence - all of it directed toward testing the underlying assumptions about race that have prevailed at times among intellectuals in general, and especially at their highest levels.

Nor is this simply a theoretical exercise. Sowell’s ultimate concern is the impact of intellectual movements on the larger society, both past and present. 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.

©2013 Thomas Sowell (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sowell brings an all-too-rare perspective to whatever he writes about - that of a conservative black intellectual, especially valuable for this book’s topic." ( Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

A Satisfying Indictment of the Intelligentsia

Reading Thomas Sowell is like taking the red pill. Decades of thorough research has allowed him to offer readers an international and historical lens through which they might view contemporary issues, and it is truly eye-opening. This book focuses primarily on intellectuals/the intelligentsia and their role in shaping their respective societies' understanding (or, more appropriately, misunderstanding) of the various intergroup issues that they face. In a world where facts matter, his unflinching and often tragically humorous characterization of the intelligentsia, whose truth-be-damned rhetorical and ideological pieties have throughout history and in various places around the world led to devastating real world consequences, is painfully necessary. I must admit that I wryly enjoy his characterization of intellectuals as (and I may be paraphrasing slightly) pseudo-enlightened academics and educated folk who make everything a matter of social justice so that they may position themselves as warriors fighting on the side of the angels against the forces of evil in their own grandiose moral melodramas.

Indeed, in a world where facts matter, it's refreshing to have a man of good character who has always throughout an incredible career been dedicated to honest empiricism and rational analysis. That he is one of only a few makes reading his work as saddening as it is invigorating.

Yuuuuge fan of Thomas Sowell

I teach macro economics and wanted to hear what Thomas Sowell had to say about economics in in 'Basic Economics'. This book feels like a addendum to that book. All of it was unbelievably well stated and supported by empirical evidence - Sowell standard. I can't recommend it enough.

Brilliant

Dr. Sowell is always brilliant. He takes race and intellectual from a historic and universal view.

painfully relevant

Sowell's writings decades ago and this recent one (which pulls much of his former writing into it) succinctly articulates what is happening in the "culture wars" and how the advocates of Social Justice are unwittingly pursuing an unfruitful direction. He also discusses how intellectuals benefit from the Race Industry, regardless of how disastrous the effects are of the teachings...

Sowell The Great Does It Again!

Every Single book by Sowell makes you not only more intelligent on the topics at hand, but makes you more intelligent in How you think of Everything in your daily life. How did this man find the time to do research in the Most Detailed categories of foreign countries? A National Treasure he is.