Ever Wonder Why? And Other Controversial Essays

Thomas Sowell takes on a range of legal, social, racial, educational, and economic issues--along with "the culture wars"--in this latest collection of his controversial, never boring, always thought-provoking essays. From "gun control myths" to "mealy mouth media" to "free lunch medicine," Sowell gets to the heart of the matters we all care about with his characteristically unswerving candor.

Sowell skewers the "mealy mouth media" that calls terrorists "insurgents" and rioters "demonstrators." He reveals how "the idiocy of relevance" in learning has been particularly destructive in the education of minority students at all levels. He explains how a free market and a strict construction of the 14th Amendment would never have permitted the laws that asked Rosa Parks to give up her seat to a white man. And he clarifies the confusion between equal opportunity and equal results that resides behind many kinds of "spoiled brat politics."

With Ever Wonder Why?--drawn from the best of his popular syndicated newspaper columns--Sowell once again takes dead aim at the self-righteous and self-important forces in government, media, education, and other areas of our society, offering the thoughtful perceptions, commonsense insights, and straightforward honesty we have come to expect from one of conservatism's most articulate voices.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among his published works are Basic Economics, Late Talking Children, and Race and Culture. He has also published in both academic journals and the popular media including Newsweek, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and 150 newspapers that carry his nationally syndicated column.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I've often wondered why more people don't wonder, 2008-05-10
A very entertaining look at our modern culture. Each essay challenges us to think about issues that should be obvious, but apparantly aren't for a large segment of the population. It seems as though we have met the enemy, and it is us. A real eye opener, I'd be very interested in seeing what all of these annointed folks would come up with to counter Mr. Sowell's views.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

First Rate, 2008-04-12
This is a great read. Sowell addresses key issues in a logical way using compelling data. Each segmengt is abougt two pages, so it is easy to pick up, put down and think a little. Anyone with liberal leanings who is open to seeing another side of things may find Sowell a great source.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A Great Compendium of Sowell Essays, 2007-12-11
I found this collection of Dr. Sowell's articles great.
Arranged by topic, it highlights the his incisive logic to everyday problems and "crises".
If you are looking for contra-logic on some of today's problems this book is a most read.


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Good Supplimental Sowell Material, 2007-12-04
I would not recommend this for first time Sowell readers, as it may come off smug and arrogant; instead, first check out some of his comprehensive, subject driven books so you know that he knows exactly what he's talking about. This is a collection of Sowell's essays and columns that have been published over the years, split into broad categories. As such, the material is condensed and not detailed with much data as in his other books, but the points remain loud and clear. It is an excellent supplimental for true believers, full of essay after essay of light, yet engaging material. If you've ever spent an hour or so browsing through the archives of Sowell columns on your local newspaper's website, this book is perfect for you.


4 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

Smug Sowell overextends himself, not a worthy read, 2007-08-29
I was really looking forward to reading this book having read some of Sowell's writing and considering myself conservative.

I was disappointed. Most of the ideas in the book are written about with generalizations and written in a rather smug fashion('I am an economist so I view things in a more sophisticated way' kind of feel to it). I was very interested in some of the subjects but was disappointed to find that a lot of his writing consisted of conservative liberal rants instead of actual substance. I also found some of his reasoning just plain stupid.

For example, in an essay on the trade deficit in the U.S. Sowell tries to argue that we are only concerned about it because of Liberal propaganda and in fact its fine for the government to be in so much debt because the private sector is earning more money now than ever before. He compares it to himself and Donald Trump, saying that Trump probably has more debt than he does but he is still worth more money in the end of the day.
Basically he criticizes liberals for talking about how under the bush administration deficit spending has gotten out of control saying that they are just doing that for political reasons. I don't know if he thinks deficits or being in debt is a good thing but he dodges that question entirely. All I could get is that he thinks its fine to have a $7 trillion deficit when the economy is booming. I wonder what he thinks will happen when we enter into a recession and are faced with stagflation as we try to free up money and increase government spending? O hello 2008, if you're wondering whether Sowell was correct, check out the latest economic figures.

In sum the book is one you can skip over. Its a combination of your average intro to economics class combined with political coulter-rush-esque mumblings about those damn liberals.

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