Thomas Sowell Books

One of the most prolific Conservative thinkers in modern times, Thomas Sowell describes himself as a libertarian, although he admits he disagrees many of their principles. He’s a true free-market Conservative who backs his opinions with detailed arguments and huge amounts of data, as one might expect from a professional economist with doctorate from the University of Chicago.

Sowell’s mentor was the famed Chicago Schoo economist Milton Friedman.

His works take on everything from Marxism, to gun control, the war on drugs, abortion and the role of the Supreme Court. He also writes extensively on race and economics, something he’s uniquely qualified to do as a black American and economist, having grown up in Harlem and faced many of the challenges a black man of that time would have.

Many of Sowell’s works focus on issues of race and the policies reportedly enacted to help black Americans. He even goes so far as to question the Civil Rights movement in his book, “Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality?”

In addition, he has also provided some of the best books on understanding economics from a lay person’s perspective. His “Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy,” has gone through five editions and explains economic systems in a way anyone can understand. Taking that a step further “Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One,” looks at the application of economic principles to real world problems from discrimination to healthcare, housing and global development. It explains political decisions and the impact they have over decades. And as usual with Sowell does so in plain language.

Yet another of Sowell’s works for those looking to shore up their political arguments with some economic data, is “Economic Facts and Fallacies,” where Sowell tackles commonly assumed economic principles and assumptions that are in fact false.

It’s not surprising that Sowell dedicated to many fo his works to economics as it impacts issues of race. He’s a strong opponent of systemic racism.

In “Discrimination and Disparities” Sowell argues that there is no one reason that some groups are economically disadvantage but many. He challenges modern assumptions about discrimination and points to past calls that genetics were to blame. He also targets affirmative action policies, designed to help, but that often do more harm than good. Sowell takes this a step further in his controversially-titled book “Black Rednecks & White Liberals” where he takes a broad look at ghetto culture, globally and across history and builds a case for a larger theme around the struggles of rural groups becoming urbanized.

On a more broad level, he also tackles the issues black Americans face today in “Intellectuals and Race.” He argues that concepts like eugenics, multiculturalism and more modern terms like “social justice,” are created by elites and have often had brutal results for those groups they aim to help. A similar argument is fund in his 1980 book “Knowledge and Decisions” where he focuses on the gap between those with first hand impiracle data and those who enact policies.

Recently retired, Sowell is yet another Conservative thinker who was at first critical of Donald Trump, endorsing Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican primaries, but later came to endorse him. When faced with a potential Joe Biden administration, Sowell strongly backed Trump and argued that the current Democratic party would usher in for American the fall of the Republic, akin to the fall of the Roman Empire.

In fact, Sowell almost predicted a Trump presidency in his 2010 book “Dismantling America.” In it he takes on a long list of economic, cultural, political and legal issues, woven together by the theme of an erosion of principles, values and institutions that have made America the greatest country on earth. In fact, Sowell argues that it’s not an erosion but a deliberate destruction and hints that the next election may be the last time to make that change.

With his strong views on race in America, Sowell was asked to comment on Trump’s alleged racism, to which he responded that he found no data to support such allegations and attacked the media for

Other topics Sowell wrote on over the yers include several books on education, particularly how it applies to the black community. And on a more personal note he wrote several books about children who are delayed in their speech, something he has first-hand knowledge of as a parent.

Economics: Analysis and Issues (1972)

Black Education: Myths and Tragedies (1972)

Say’s Law: A Historical Analysis (1972)

Classical Economics Reconsidered (1974)

Race and Economics (1975)

Knowledge and Decisions (1980)

Ethnic America: A History (1981)

Markets and Minorities (1981)

Pink and Brown People: and Other Controversial Essays (1981)

The Economics and Politics of Race (1983)

Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? (1984)

Marxism: Philosophy and Economics (1985)