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Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays
A collection of essays that discusses such issues as the media, immigration, the minimum wage and multiculturalism.
268 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 1999
About the author
Thomas Sowell
94 books5,677 followersThomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he became a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative. He was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2002.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 9, 2015
This collection of Sowell's essays is bound to make people explode in anger. Sowell is the finest writer I've ever read and his controversial essays were even more fun to read than his other works because he could ignore the formality and let the analogy, simile and other figure of speech flow freely. A must read if one is to improve his debating skills.
December 6, 2024
Controversial, if not downright scandalous collection of essays from my favorite American Economist.
If this is your first Sowell book, just know that although he seems to have lost any/all measure of "chill" (as exemplified by some of the more ranty essays), he is in fact one of the most informed, unbiased, and even-keeled writers to have ever tackled the difficult issues that you'll find discussed here.
So this is perhaps not the best place to start if you are Sowell-curious; it is not a great representation of his body of work, IMHO. As mentioned previously, some of the essays display an uncharacteristic level of pontification not present in Social Justice Fallacies, or Economic Facts and Fallacies. As he mentions in the introduction, his axe was coarse, and well, being the equal-opportunity (but not equal-outcome -- haha, Sowell pun...) iconoclast that he was, he most certainly delivered...
The other thing you ought to know about this collection is that it is a tad repetitive, even more so if you have read some of his other work elsewhere. One almost gets the sense that some of these essays were written as first-drafts, with the sanitized and editorialized versions making it into his more academic work. As they say, "write with your heart, re-write with your head".
At any rate, even though the delivery is not what I am accustomed to, the content is no less important or thought-provoking. Although I don't necessarily agree with Sowell's views in all subjects, I appreciate his candor in this collection.
Recommended with the above caveats.
If this is your first Sowell book, just know that although he seems to have lost any/all measure of "chill" (as exemplified by some of the more ranty essays), he is in fact one of the most informed, unbiased, and even-keeled writers to have ever tackled the difficult issues that you'll find discussed here.
So this is perhaps not the best place to start if you are Sowell-curious; it is not a great representation of his body of work, IMHO. As mentioned previously, some of the essays display an uncharacteristic level of pontification not present in Social Justice Fallacies, or Economic Facts and Fallacies. As he mentions in the introduction, his axe was coarse, and well, being the equal-opportunity (but not equal-outcome -- haha, Sowell pun...) iconoclast that he was, he most certainly delivered...
The other thing you ought to know about this collection is that it is a tad repetitive, even more so if you have read some of his other work elsewhere. One almost gets the sense that some of these essays were written as first-drafts, with the sanitized and editorialized versions making it into his more academic work. As they say, "write with your heart, re-write with your head".
At any rate, even though the delivery is not what I am accustomed to, the content is no less important or thought-provoking. Although I don't necessarily agree with Sowell's views in all subjects, I appreciate his candor in this collection.
Recommended with the above caveats.
July 4, 2020
This is a book that all folks should read. Thomas Sowell is a black economist that is extremely level headed and displays a high degree of common sense that anybody could look up to as a excellent role model.
This book was published in 1999 but the articles come from the entirety of the 90s I believe. Nearly every single article is pertinent today as much as back then. His words still ring as true now as they did then. I just wish younger folks could just read what he has to say and find a way to apply it to their thinking and living now rather than be out in the streets acting like a bunch of hoodlums.
Highly recommended overall even if your viewpoints are opposite you might come away enlightened on some things.
This book was published in 1999 but the articles come from the entirety of the 90s I believe. Nearly every single article is pertinent today as much as back then. His words still ring as true now as they did then. I just wish younger folks could just read what he has to say and find a way to apply it to their thinking and living now rather than be out in the streets acting like a bunch of hoodlums.
Highly recommended overall even if your viewpoints are opposite you might come away enlightened on some things.
May 28, 2023
extremely sharp and informative. especially for those who wants to overlook their ingrained posture.
ძალიან მაგარია!!!
ძალიან მაგარია!!!
April 20, 2026
It’s mildly depressing to read this in 2026 and realize this was written thirty years ago. I suppose if it didn’t help thirty years ago, it wouldn’t help now either.
April 22, 2026
HIS FOURTH COLLECTION OF NEWSPAPER COLUMNS
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) is an economist, social theorist, political philosopher, columnist, and author (known particularly for his books on race and economics, such as ‘Ethnic America: A History,’ ‘The Economics and Politics of Race,’ etc.), who has long been associated with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1999 book, “perhaps it is inevitable that I believe this collection of my columns … to be better than the three previous collections of such essays… what all these writings have in common is that they permit me to address a general audience without having to guard against having academics misconstrue every sentence that isn’t hedged and footnoted… Once freed from the need to be constantly fending off the word-twisters, I find that a lot can be said in a brief essay, even on some pretty complex issues… If the title of the book suggests that I think we are facing a dire threat to the social fabric of this country, it is because I do… Those of us old enough to have lived through the great deliverances of the 20th century… have no right to despair because our society is troubled today. Indeed, we have a duty to fight against the signs of decay and corruption around us.”
He suggests, “How you look at the free market depends on how you look at human beings. If everyone were sweetness and light, socialism would be the way to go. Within the traditional family, for example, resources are often lavished on children, who don’t earn a dime of their own. It is domestic socialism and even the most hard-bitten capitalists practice it…. But the history of human beings shows that a nation with millions of people cannot operate like one big family.” (Pg. 11)
He says, “One award-winning teacher had a sign on her classroom wall saying, ‘Question Authority.’ Today, there is barely enough authority around to question.” (Pg. 21)
He contends, “Remember the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant ‘disaster’ of 1987? Since then, scientific study after scientific study has failed to show how anybody suffered any concrete physical injury from that nuclear power accident, which is routinely referred to as a ‘disaster’ in the media. The only substantiated damage to people has been through stress and two deaths of people trying to flee the area. In short, more people were hurt by the media hysteria than by the accident itself.” (Pg. 57)
He reports, “The late Professor Hayek, another giant in the history of free market economics, argued that we are all believers in altruistic tribal values in our private lives---and that socialism is essentially the belief that these values can be applied politically to a complex economy. In other words, we are all closet socialists at heart, though some of us believe that it would be disastrous for a whole society to come out of the closet and try to apply these primitive tribal values through a political bureaucracy in a modern economy and mass society.” (Pg. 101)
He says of gays in the military, “we are talking about people living together in barracks and tents, not performing separate tasks in a nine-to-five job… and about what the means when there are sexual affinities among military personnel of different ranks. The potential for sexual harassment is only one of the problems. Wholly voluntary sexual relations, whether among gays or between men and women, affect the morale of others, when those others must wonder about … favoritism in combat… What about the likelihood that military bases, like other concentrations of young males such as college, will become magnets for civilian homosexuals?… The question is whether such activity is going to become a problem if homosexuality becomes as accepted in the military as it has become on many college campuses.” (Pg. 107-108)
He asserts, “Less than 5% of the immigrants from Britain and Germany go on welfare when they get here, but more than [25%] of the immigrants from Vietnam go on welfare, as do nearly half of those from Cambodia. That compares to 14% among American blacks. If making any distinction among immigrant groups is ‘racist,’ as the intelligentsia seem to think, then apparently the choice facing the country is to be racist, or to be suckers who pay for everyone who wants to come here and live off the American taxpayers. Nothing will promote racism more than a choice like that.” (Pg. 111-112)
He insists, “After more than a quarter of a century of listening to arguments in favor of affirmative action, I have finally realized that there are no arguments in favor of affirmative action. There are only ploys, evasions, and emotional rhetoric. The latest ploy is to say that ‘angry white men’ are the reason for recent efforts to repeal group preferences and quotas. In fact, polls have repeatedly shown that no segment of American society is in favor of such things when they are called by their right names.” (Pg. 113)
He suggests, “Blacks were not enslaved because they were black, but because they were available at the time. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black slave was brought to the Western Hemisphere.” (Pg. 164)
He says caustically, “The ‘diversity’ of the multiculturalists is like the diversity of the Clinton administration, with its black lawyers, white lawyers, female lawyers, and Hispanic lawyers. In the academic world, diversity means black leftists, white leftists, female leftists, and Hispanic leftists. Demographic diversity conceals ideological conformity.” (Pg. 173-174)
He acknowledges, “At one time, it was thought that racial segregation and discrimination was responsible for black-white difference in the South. But Jewish and Puerto Rican children sitting side-by-side in the same schools in New York had even larger differences on IQ tests, as did Mexican-American and Japanese American children attending the same schools in California. If neither education nor genetics can account for many of these differences, what does? I don’t know. It is a phrase that should be used more often.” (Pg. 177)
He says of Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s book ‘The Bell Curve,’ “This is one of the most sober, responsible, thorough and thoughtful books to be published in years. I don’t happen to agree with everything in it, but that is beside the point. What we are seeing now is … a campaign for the moral extermination of Charles Murray, in order to avoid facing the issues that he presents… Murray and Herrnstein examine alternative explanations of many of the things they find including racial differences in I.Q. scores… Some of these alternative explanations fall by the wayside when you look at them closely. Others do not.” (Pg. 194-196)
He notes, “Words and phrases like ‘ain’t’ or ‘I be’ and ‘you be’ do not come from any African language. They come from the parts of England from which many white Southerners originated… where people said ‘ain’t’ and used other terms now thought to be ‘black English.’ In short, what is called ‘black English’ is just as white as any other English. It is a dialect that died out as education and standardization of the language proceeded over the generations.” (Pg. 214)
He reveals, “If any college were foolish enough to make me president and I were foolish enough to accept, my first order of business would be to see the professors no longer control decisions outside their field of expertise. My second order of business would be to end tenure.” (Pg. 217)
He argues, “No doubt it will be a long time before Ivy League colleges allow televised education to replace traditional methods of teaching. For one thing, if parents could see televised lectures from Ivy League colleges and compare them with televised lectures from lesser-known institutions and compare them, they might decide that they cannot see any difference sufficient to justify straining the family budget to come up with the huge tuitions charged at big-name colleges. In more than a few cases, Ivy League lectures would not be as good as lectures on the same subjects at liberal arts colleges which specialize in teaching, rather than in turning out research.” (Pg. 237)
Sowell often speaks more ‘frankly’ in his columns, than in his books. As with his other books, some love/like him, others hate him.
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) is an economist, social theorist, political philosopher, columnist, and author (known particularly for his books on race and economics, such as ‘Ethnic America: A History,’ ‘The Economics and Politics of Race,’ etc.), who has long been associated with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1999 book, “perhaps it is inevitable that I believe this collection of my columns … to be better than the three previous collections of such essays… what all these writings have in common is that they permit me to address a general audience without having to guard against having academics misconstrue every sentence that isn’t hedged and footnoted… Once freed from the need to be constantly fending off the word-twisters, I find that a lot can be said in a brief essay, even on some pretty complex issues… If the title of the book suggests that I think we are facing a dire threat to the social fabric of this country, it is because I do… Those of us old enough to have lived through the great deliverances of the 20th century… have no right to despair because our society is troubled today. Indeed, we have a duty to fight against the signs of decay and corruption around us.”
He suggests, “How you look at the free market depends on how you look at human beings. If everyone were sweetness and light, socialism would be the way to go. Within the traditional family, for example, resources are often lavished on children, who don’t earn a dime of their own. It is domestic socialism and even the most hard-bitten capitalists practice it…. But the history of human beings shows that a nation with millions of people cannot operate like one big family.” (Pg. 11)
He says, “One award-winning teacher had a sign on her classroom wall saying, ‘Question Authority.’ Today, there is barely enough authority around to question.” (Pg. 21)
He contends, “Remember the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant ‘disaster’ of 1987? Since then, scientific study after scientific study has failed to show how anybody suffered any concrete physical injury from that nuclear power accident, which is routinely referred to as a ‘disaster’ in the media. The only substantiated damage to people has been through stress and two deaths of people trying to flee the area. In short, more people were hurt by the media hysteria than by the accident itself.” (Pg. 57)
He reports, “The late Professor Hayek, another giant in the history of free market economics, argued that we are all believers in altruistic tribal values in our private lives---and that socialism is essentially the belief that these values can be applied politically to a complex economy. In other words, we are all closet socialists at heart, though some of us believe that it would be disastrous for a whole society to come out of the closet and try to apply these primitive tribal values through a political bureaucracy in a modern economy and mass society.” (Pg. 101)
He says of gays in the military, “we are talking about people living together in barracks and tents, not performing separate tasks in a nine-to-five job… and about what the means when there are sexual affinities among military personnel of different ranks. The potential for sexual harassment is only one of the problems. Wholly voluntary sexual relations, whether among gays or between men and women, affect the morale of others, when those others must wonder about … favoritism in combat… What about the likelihood that military bases, like other concentrations of young males such as college, will become magnets for civilian homosexuals?… The question is whether such activity is going to become a problem if homosexuality becomes as accepted in the military as it has become on many college campuses.” (Pg. 107-108)
He asserts, “Less than 5% of the immigrants from Britain and Germany go on welfare when they get here, but more than [25%] of the immigrants from Vietnam go on welfare, as do nearly half of those from Cambodia. That compares to 14% among American blacks. If making any distinction among immigrant groups is ‘racist,’ as the intelligentsia seem to think, then apparently the choice facing the country is to be racist, or to be suckers who pay for everyone who wants to come here and live off the American taxpayers. Nothing will promote racism more than a choice like that.” (Pg. 111-112)
He insists, “After more than a quarter of a century of listening to arguments in favor of affirmative action, I have finally realized that there are no arguments in favor of affirmative action. There are only ploys, evasions, and emotional rhetoric. The latest ploy is to say that ‘angry white men’ are the reason for recent efforts to repeal group preferences and quotas. In fact, polls have repeatedly shown that no segment of American society is in favor of such things when they are called by their right names.” (Pg. 113)
He suggests, “Blacks were not enslaved because they were black, but because they were available at the time. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black slave was brought to the Western Hemisphere.” (Pg. 164)
He says caustically, “The ‘diversity’ of the multiculturalists is like the diversity of the Clinton administration, with its black lawyers, white lawyers, female lawyers, and Hispanic lawyers. In the academic world, diversity means black leftists, white leftists, female leftists, and Hispanic leftists. Demographic diversity conceals ideological conformity.” (Pg. 173-174)
He acknowledges, “At one time, it was thought that racial segregation and discrimination was responsible for black-white difference in the South. But Jewish and Puerto Rican children sitting side-by-side in the same schools in New York had even larger differences on IQ tests, as did Mexican-American and Japanese American children attending the same schools in California. If neither education nor genetics can account for many of these differences, what does? I don’t know. It is a phrase that should be used more often.” (Pg. 177)
He says of Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s book ‘The Bell Curve,’ “This is one of the most sober, responsible, thorough and thoughtful books to be published in years. I don’t happen to agree with everything in it, but that is beside the point. What we are seeing now is … a campaign for the moral extermination of Charles Murray, in order to avoid facing the issues that he presents… Murray and Herrnstein examine alternative explanations of many of the things they find including racial differences in I.Q. scores… Some of these alternative explanations fall by the wayside when you look at them closely. Others do not.” (Pg. 194-196)
He notes, “Words and phrases like ‘ain’t’ or ‘I be’ and ‘you be’ do not come from any African language. They come from the parts of England from which many white Southerners originated… where people said ‘ain’t’ and used other terms now thought to be ‘black English.’ In short, what is called ‘black English’ is just as white as any other English. It is a dialect that died out as education and standardization of the language proceeded over the generations.” (Pg. 214)
He reveals, “If any college were foolish enough to make me president and I were foolish enough to accept, my first order of business would be to see the professors no longer control decisions outside their field of expertise. My second order of business would be to end tenure.” (Pg. 217)
He argues, “No doubt it will be a long time before Ivy League colleges allow televised education to replace traditional methods of teaching. For one thing, if parents could see televised lectures from Ivy League colleges and compare them with televised lectures from lesser-known institutions and compare them, they might decide that they cannot see any difference sufficient to justify straining the family budget to come up with the huge tuitions charged at big-name colleges. In more than a few cases, Ivy League lectures would not be as good as lectures on the same subjects at liberal arts colleges which specialize in teaching, rather than in turning out research.” (Pg. 237)
Sowell often speaks more ‘frankly’ in his columns, than in his books. As with his other books, some love/like him, others hate him.
August 3, 2018
This is an amusing collection of essays. I don't share Sowell's view on a number of issues, but this man really writes with compelling clarity. The essays are about society, economics, politics, law, racial issues, and education—and what's wrong with all of them. While topics such as "Gays in the Military" and "Televised Lectures" may feel quite outdated in 2018, it's almost disappointing how many of these talking points haven't changed a bit in the past 20 years.
November 17, 2024
Exactly what the subtitle advertises. These essays from the brilliant Thomas Sowell are dated (mid-to-late 90's) and can be repetitive to some degree when read in book form. This costs the book a 4th star, but it is a good book. Rather than a review, I'll just provide some good Sowell quotes from the book, which is what he's probably best known for.
pg. 31 - Liberals love to say things like, "We're just asking everyone to pay their fair share." But government is not about asking. It is about telling. The difference is fundamental. It is the difference between making love and being raped, between working for a living and being a slave.
pg. 43 - Worse yet, the hard-working, decent and law-abiding majority of Americans are made to feel guilty because others do not choose to work, to be decent or even to obey the law. Those who produce the things we all live on are supposed to "give something back" to those who produce nothing, and from whom nothing could have been taken.
pg. 103 - The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.
pg. 115 - Are we to play make-believe for another generation or another century and say that demographic "representation" takes precedence over getting the job done? Are we to indulge in absolute fantasy and say that statistical "diversity" promotes better intergroup relations, shutting our eyes tight against blatant evidence that it is poisoning people against one another?
pg. 147 - Whenever I hear someone take a cheap shot at Clarence Thomas' qualifications, I ask them: "Have you ever read a single opinion of his?" There hasn't been a "yes" yet.
pg. 174 - In the academic world, diversity mean black leftists, white leftists, female leftists, and Hispanic leftists. Demographic diversity conceals ideological conformity.
pg. 195 - Unfortunately, the liberal establishment too often "replaces the intellectual discussion of arguments by the moral extermination of persons," in the words of distinguished French author Jean-Francois Revel.
pg. 195 - In the prevailing liberal vision, problems are caused by "society" and solutions can be imposed by government.
pg. 247 - It is hard to trust very good-looking women. You just know that they have been getting away with murder all their lives.
pg. 250 - The purpose of politics is not to solve problems but to find problems to justify the expansion of government power and an increase in taxes.
pg. 261 - People who believe in affirmative action have yet to explain why something that happened 40 years ago justifies discrimination against some guy who is 39.
pg. 263 - Whenever there is a proposal for a tax cut, media pundits demand to know how you are going to pay for it. But when there are proposals for more spending on social programs, those same pundits are strangely silent.
pg. 31 - Liberals love to say things like, "We're just asking everyone to pay their fair share." But government is not about asking. It is about telling. The difference is fundamental. It is the difference between making love and being raped, between working for a living and being a slave.
pg. 43 - Worse yet, the hard-working, decent and law-abiding majority of Americans are made to feel guilty because others do not choose to work, to be decent or even to obey the law. Those who produce the things we all live on are supposed to "give something back" to those who produce nothing, and from whom nothing could have been taken.
pg. 103 - The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.
pg. 115 - Are we to play make-believe for another generation or another century and say that demographic "representation" takes precedence over getting the job done? Are we to indulge in absolute fantasy and say that statistical "diversity" promotes better intergroup relations, shutting our eyes tight against blatant evidence that it is poisoning people against one another?
pg. 147 - Whenever I hear someone take a cheap shot at Clarence Thomas' qualifications, I ask them: "Have you ever read a single opinion of his?" There hasn't been a "yes" yet.
pg. 174 - In the academic world, diversity mean black leftists, white leftists, female leftists, and Hispanic leftists. Demographic diversity conceals ideological conformity.
pg. 195 - Unfortunately, the liberal establishment too often "replaces the intellectual discussion of arguments by the moral extermination of persons," in the words of distinguished French author Jean-Francois Revel.
pg. 195 - In the prevailing liberal vision, problems are caused by "society" and solutions can be imposed by government.
pg. 247 - It is hard to trust very good-looking women. You just know that they have been getting away with murder all their lives.
pg. 250 - The purpose of politics is not to solve problems but to find problems to justify the expansion of government power and an increase in taxes.
pg. 261 - People who believe in affirmative action have yet to explain why something that happened 40 years ago justifies discrimination against some guy who is 39.
pg. 263 - Whenever there is a proposal for a tax cut, media pundits demand to know how you are going to pay for it. But when there are proposals for more spending on social programs, those same pundits are strangely silent.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2026
This book is a compilation of short essays organized into seven sections covering social, economic, political, legal, racial, education, and random thoughts. I listened to the audiobook version, where most essays last no more than five minutes. They are brief and easy to listen to or read but dense; despite their length, the essays consistently deliver a deep lesson or at least a thought provoking challenge, even in the random thoughts section where ideas are presented in just a few sentences.
The book offers a clear window into how Sowell's mind works, moving logically and efficiently from observation to conclusion. I was genuinely surprised to learn it was published in 1999, since many of its essays remain highly relevant today. While the essays are often labeled controversial, they seemed to me simply rigorous, well-argued, and unapologetically honest. Maybe only leftist extremists might consider them controversial. Sowell's ability to explain complex issues plainly makes this book valuable reading, and one that should be taught in schools and universities.
The book offers a clear window into how Sowell's mind works, moving logically and efficiently from observation to conclusion. I was genuinely surprised to learn it was published in 1999, since many of its essays remain highly relevant today. While the essays are often labeled controversial, they seemed to me simply rigorous, well-argued, and unapologetically honest. Maybe only leftist extremists might consider them controversial. Sowell's ability to explain complex issues plainly makes this book valuable reading, and one that should be taught in schools and universities.
July 15, 2025
Brilliant as always
* Multiculturalism is not about many cultures. It is about a premise that there is no better or worse parts in each culture. So any culture must be adapted and nothing can be ignored except the idea of choosing the best part. Meritocracy is targeted and criticises because it moves the power to control the human behaviour from the group of 'educated and benevolent' towards individuals who can themselves evaluate the objective outcomes of different cultures.
* The growth of the government parasite class
* If an idea doesn't increase the government control or promotes a politician or activist career, it is ignored.
* Multiculturalism is not about many cultures. It is about a premise that there is no better or worse parts in each culture. So any culture must be adapted and nothing can be ignored except the idea of choosing the best part. Meritocracy is targeted and criticises because it moves the power to control the human behaviour from the group of 'educated and benevolent' towards individuals who can themselves evaluate the objective outcomes of different cultures.
* The growth of the government parasite class
* If an idea doesn't increase the government control or promotes a politician or activist career, it is ignored.
February 13, 2026
Despite its original publication being a couple of decades ago, it's uncanny how prescient do many of the essays contained here are. Simply put, this man is a genius, and points so concisely and critically at many of the hot topics of yesteryear that sadly remain as such today. Aside from the genius contained within, it's also structured in a way that makes it incredibly easy to digest in small bites, as each essay averages about 5 1/2 minutes in length.
Special note, it ends with a stream of consciousness that drops witty quote after witty quote in an almost Carlin-esque way (sans vulgarity).
Special note, it ends with a stream of consciousness that drops witty quote after witty quote in an almost Carlin-esque way (sans vulgarity).
November 15, 2023
Quite an interesting read. Thomas Sowell basically broke open the secrets that are kept hidden in plain sight in this book.
The writing is a bit disjointed and repetitive at times (and could have been shortened by a 50-100 pages), but I do think this is an interesting book to read. Even if not for the interesting nuggets of knowledge that was imparted, but for our own understanding and perspective of the world we live in to be challenged.
Any book where I learn something new is a good book in my opinion. This book is one of them.
Blog: http://literaturesandmovies.com
The writing is a bit disjointed and repetitive at times (and could have been shortened by a 50-100 pages), but I do think this is an interesting book to read. Even if not for the interesting nuggets of knowledge that was imparted, but for our own understanding and perspective of the world we live in to be challenged.
Any book where I learn something new is a good book in my opinion. This book is one of them.
Blog: http://literaturesandmovies.com
February 16, 2024
learning from history verses the pinball emotional reactions of herds of people swayed by biased relativism, which would you pick, there is objective truth in all things, making decisions based upon the evidence of history and objective truths can be and usually is the loving approach we could have for each other in all things.
March 7, 2024
"The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics."
"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."
"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it."
November 9, 2024
This collection of essays from the highly educated and brilliant black economist Thomas Sowell really opened my eyes to a LOT of things. I highly recommend. These essays are a little older, but sadly the problems he writes about haven’t gotten any better. If you want a perspective with data to back it up rather than just rhetoric, this book is for you. Wish I would have read it a lot earlier.
January 5, 2025
Another great book of compiled essays by Thomas Sowell. I liked listening to this as an audiobook since the format was short chapters of about 5 minutes each. I never get tired of reading anything this man writes! "Maybe we need less marching, and more thinking."
March 6, 2020
Anything by T. Sowell is worth a read.
August 10, 2020
Not for the enlightened. Policies should be judged by facts not feelings.
July 28, 2021
Excellent.
February 24, 2024
absolutely nuts how these were written in the 90s, lol
April 13, 2024
Thomas Sowell is an American treasure. The way he uses words to articulate his ideas is amazing. His books should be read and heeded by all Americans.
June 8, 2024
Too many good quotes to include here. Maybe someday I'll add them to this review.
Just read it.
Just read it.
June 18, 2024
Didn’t like as much as Sowell’s other books. More rant than analysis, although somewhat entertaining in its own way.
July 3, 2024
I need to read more of Sowell’s books. This was my first and I loved Sowell’s common sense essays. More people need to read them and perhaps our western world would be doing better.
July 18, 2024
Labai silpna mano vieno mėgstamiausių JAV intelektualų knygų. Pass.
November 9, 2024
It is always informative and enjoyable to read a book by Sowell. This one was no different but is often essays he’s already published so doesn’t flow as well as his other books. Check it out.
October 8, 2025
Very profound, but simple thoughts
- "We need less marching and more thinking."
- "Being right doesn't count; saying what others accept count."
- "We need less marching and more thinking."
- "Being right doesn't count; saying what others accept count."
December 11, 2025
4,5 stars;
May 30, 2016
Barbarians is, on the whole, no less thought-provoking than Compassion versus Guilt, though its essays are noticeably more overlapped. Its primary weakness, however, is that Sowell invests too much energy into making clear his detest of "counterculture liberals". In doing so he strays from the sort of clean, no-nonsense argument that made Compassion versus Guilt so compelling, and instead risks alienating readers using the exact style of divisive rhetoric found in his most hated opponents.
April 24, 2012
If you've read a lot of Thomas Sowell, nothing new here, education, economics, race, etc. Maybe not a ton of new insight, but Sowell is always worth a read in my opinion, but wouldn't recommend this to someone who really wants to know the work of Thomas Sowell, my suggestions would be Vision of the Annointed or a Conflict of Visions.
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