• Black Rednecks and White Liberals

  • By: Thomas Sowell
  • Narrated by: Hugh Mann
  • Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (10,337 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Black Rednecks and White Liberals  By  cover art

Black Rednecks and White Liberals

By: Thomas Sowell
Narrated by: Hugh Mann
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.97

Buy for $20.97

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

This explosive new audiobook challenges many of the long-held assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans and Nazis, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on the trendy intellectuals of our times as well as historic interpreters of American life.

Through a series of essays, Sowell presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many policies and trends. He presents eye-opening insights into the development of the ghetto culture, a culture cheered on toward self-destruction by white liberals who consider themselves "friends" of blacks.

Black Rednecks and White Liberals is the capstone of decades of outstanding research and writing on racial and cultural issues by Thomas Sowell.

©2005 Thomas Sowell (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"These vigorously argued essays present a stimulating challenge to the conventional wisdom." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Black Rednecks and White Liberals

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8,939
  • 4 Stars
    975
  • 3 Stars
    234
  • 2 Stars
    68
  • 1 Stars
    121
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7,680
  • 4 Stars
    944
  • 3 Stars
    175
  • 2 Stars
    36
  • 1 Stars
    46
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7,656
  • 4 Stars
    798
  • 3 Stars
    198
  • 2 Stars
    53
  • 1 Stars
    110

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book, Somewhat Misleading Title

Thomas Sowell's scholarly expertise does not fail to disappoint in this enlightening book. Far from rendering blanket opinions, Dr. Sowell provides the reader/listener with an exceedingly well-sourced (but not at all dry) account of the origins of so-called "African American culture".

But the best surprise is that this book goes far beyond what the title appears to imply. Sowell provides one of the must elucidating explanations of the seemingly maniacal worldwide hatred of Jews that I have ever heard. He explains the role of the "middleman minority" and how their rational economic behavior often translates into class and ethnic stereotyping and hatred.

This book is a hard one to put down, and despite its scholarly merits, does not lull the reader into unconsciousness. Indeed, Sowell's writing style (the first book of his I've ever read) is crisp, clear, engaging, and always thought provoking. A solid narrative performance is also offered by Hugh Mann.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

190 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Sowell An American Treasure

This book is an extraordinary example of clear, honest, and insightful thinking about people, culture, and history. Although the title would indicate that the book is entirely about some specific segments of American black culture and the white liberals who promote and seek to perpetuate such ills, it is actually broader in overall subject matter. Dr. Sowell, however, sticks close to his purpose as he ranges across time and geography, history and ideas. And his purpose is to draw a bead on the terrible damage done by the dishonesty and revisionism of self-serving and self-proclaimed moral and intellectual thinkers, teachers, demagogues, and other voices who are reported in the media. These, who Sowell sometimes refers to as the Anointed, seek to set those of us who they believe are not so blessed on the path of true moral perception and right thinking, and by their position in academia or politics have largely achieved their objective.

Thomas Sowell's ideas may be novel to many who have not looked beyond the classroom, the newspaper, or the television. If any would read this book, they will find reason and understanding supported by a world of facts, not selected facts. His presentation is clear, understandable, and easily absorbed by any people who care to think for themselves. This book is not a dry discourse or dissertation written expressly for scholars, but a lively and entertaining education. The narrator is excellent. Give it a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

121 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Rethink your feelings on Black Culture

After reading this book I will rethink my ideals on black culture. I never really agree with the way African Americans gravitated to the notion that you were not really black unless you subscribed to hip-hop culture or dressed like a hoodlum. if you did not speak in slang or use proper English you were considered a sellout or you wanted to be white. this book breaks down the idea of wanting to be white and where it came from. The fact that our ignorant slang speaks and somewhat attitudes and not just holy hours but have transcended different cultures in generations for years is a surprise. after this book, I am more comfortable in my ideas of not wanting to assimilate to hip-hop culture or be like the others they call me whitewashed. I will push through my success I will make sure I am not falling into the black redneck or the liberal white mentality.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

119 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Informative Book

Any additional comments?

I learned a great deal from this book. I feel it is one of the best books ever written about Black culture and White liberals. I like the fact Thomas Sowell backed up every narrative with facts. The book move along very quickly. I would highly recommend this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

85 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Fascinating Rebuttal To Common Race Teachings

My first book from Sowell and won't be my last. Sowell focuses on a number of topics regarding race relations between the majority and minorities around the world from Blacks in America to Jews to Germans after World War Two. Each one adding new information that I was never told in school, often because it does not fit the narrative commonly held on how race relations have occured and how they influence today. Sowell provides a different take on these events and thus a different stance on what policies and actions would improve current race related issues today. Fascinating read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

67 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Thomas Sowell is my hero

Thomas Sowell book has taught me that history is the foundation to understanding ideologies, both economic and political.

Initially, the title seemed extreme to me -- BUT right away, this book is a history lesson. When I say to friends, "Do you know where the word 'redneck' came from?", they all give the same answer I had before listening to this book.

This book is a good investment, especially if you want to understand how history has shaped some of the radical thinking of today.


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

67 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I'll Never Call Anybody a Redneck Again

I've read a number of books by Thomas Sowell. This one is at least as good as any I've read. Dr. Sowell discusses a number of topics related to race and culture that need to be discussed but aren't. As always, his writing is clear, concise and flows off the page. If you read one book this year, make it this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

65 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Ugh, Couldn't Finish It

I based this review on listening to only an hour and a half of this book. Tried to listen to the whole thing, but couldn't. Felt too much like I was experiencing a bizarre, otherworldly shuffling of history to suit the author's political ideology, namely to tar and feather so-called liberalism (whatever that means). The part of the book I listened to is historical revisionism at its best! When something terrible happened, oh, well, then the liberals did it; and if something good happened, oh, well, then the people from New England did it. Either he doesn't know what liberalism is (which I doubt) or doesn't want to give credit when credit is due to that political faction by name. It also seemed like the author drew his conclusions first (before writing the book) and then after the fact found information to support them -- instead of objectively studying the data and then drawing conclusions based on the scientific method. This research is not true scholarship. This research is not scientific research. This research is about pretty convincingly saying what the ignorant masses want to hear, many of whom are in denial, like the author of the book, about the actual history of the New World.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

55 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Failed Logic

I am a bit relunctant to write this review, but after hearing my university attacked at length I found it almost necessary. Among the many misleading statements Mr. Sowell states that Mordecai Johnson, the first black president of Howard University, was a poor choice who brought in unqualified black teachers. It is unfortunate that Mr. Sowell believes that Ralph J. Bunche, 1950 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and black, does not fit the bill of qualified black professors.
Further, it is surprising that Mr. Sowell does not acknowledge the fact that in the first half of the 20th century maids and porters were the black middle class and doctors and lawyers were the upper class.
I think Mr. Sowell has many things to say that are valid, but when he distorts the story to fit his agenda he becomes just another talking head. For all his statements of "facts" the few times he hit on subject matters I am familiar with he was off the mark. This is disapointing. There are just too many questionable statements in this piece for me to support his premise...until I see him on campus defending his work. Take this book as just another tired politically charged polemic you have heard many times before.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

53 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Topics beyond the title

This book was much better than I expected, given the unusual title. He builds upon the thesis that regional differences in American culture derive from variations in immigration patterns from Britain (who, where, when) which is covered in Albion's Seed, another good book (by a different author). He then adds generations of enslaved blacks living among one of these cultures and indirectly picking up behaviour and speech patterns derived indirectly from a certain time and place in Britain. He contrasts the results where blacks were not exposed to this culture, by not being enslaved or being enslaved elsewhere.

His history of Dunbar High School in DC was inspiring or threatening, depending on whether you believe blacks were as capable of competence as other immigrants or believe they need to be treated patronizingly forever, respectively. Dr. Sowell states that lack of enrollment restrictions and the parent's occupations did not make the students the cream of the crop, as the parent's occupations were maid, porter, etc., and that one third of DC blacks were going to Dunbar HS. Hence the earier nagative review.

The real treat in the book is the massive expansion of his treatment of "middle men" minorities (e.g. Jews, Chinese, Aremenians, etc), and why they are sometimes hated and periodically slaughtered.

Despite the title, this book has world wide scope.

This was a great book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

50 people found this helpful