Conservative Canon: Author Discussion
Thomas Sowell
With the death of William F. Buckley Jr, Thomas Sowell is now the most important conservative intellectual living. A black economics professor and syndicated columnist, Sowell is the one author I’ve actually seen convert liberals. (I’ve seen it twice, once it was his book “the Vision of the Anointed” and the other time it was his book “The Quest for Cosmic Justice”).
He has written a lot of books, few of them are unimportant. Here is his complete bibliography:
2007. Economic Facts and Fallacies. Basic Books, 262 pages. ISBN 978-0465003495.
2007. Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, 3rd edition, Cambridge, Mass: Perseus Books Group, 627 pages. ISBN 978-0465002603.
2007. A Man of Letters. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 320 pages. ISBN 978-1594031960.
2006. Ever Wonder Why? And Other Controversial Essays. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 460 pages. ISBN 978-0817947521.
2006. On Classical Economics. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 320 pages. ISBN 978-0300126068.
2005. Black Rednecks and White Liberals: And Other Cultural And Ethnic Issues. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 360 pages. ISBN 978-1594030864.
2004. Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 256 pages. ISBN 978-0300107753.
2004. Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, revised and expanded ed. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-08145-2 (1st ed. 2000)
2003. Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One, ISBN 0-465-08143-6
2003. Inside American Education, ISBN 0-7432-5408-2
2002. The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late, ISBN 0-465-08141-X
2002. Controversial Essays, ISBN 0-8179-2992-4
2002. A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-08142-8
2002. A Personal Odyssey, ISBN 0-684-86465-7
2002. The Quest For Cosmic Justice, ISBN 0-684-86463-0
1998. Conquests and Cultures: An International History, ISBN 0-465-01400-3
1996. Migrations and Cultures: A World View, ISBN 0-465-04589-8
1996. The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-08995-X
1994. Race and Culture: A World View, ISBN 0-465-06796-4
1987. Compassion versus guilt, and other essays, ISBN 0688071147.
1986. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. Quill, ISBN 0-688-06426-4
1984. Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality? William Morrow, ISBN 0-688-03113-7.
1983. Economics and Politics of Race. William Morrow, ISBN 0-688-01891-2
1981. Ethnic America: A History. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02074-7
1981. Markets and Minorities. Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-04399-2
1980. Knowledge and Decisions. Basic Books.
1975. Race and Economics. David McKay Company Inc, ISBN 0-679-30262-X.
So, I would put forth these for inclusion into the Canon (pick any three):
Knowledge and Decisions
The Quest for Cosmic Justice
The Vision of the Anointed
Migrations and Cultures
Conquests and Cultures
A Personal Odyssey
Basic Economics
Economic Facts and Fallacies
Sowell is the one author who clearly is a challenge to my arbitrary “three book” rule. So of course, now would be a good time to discuss whether we should allow some authors to dominate the canon (I don’t want to make it the “O’Rourke and Sowell Reader”).
Finally, I would also include his article on writing (shorter articles not being limited thus far in the canon).
3 comments:
Perhaps there are those you need to make exceptions for in your 3 book rule. Cut down their list as much as you can, see if works of theirs are similar to those of others, but in the end just break the rule if needed.
The great books of the western world reading list you are reading (and I am myself, thanks to you) includes at least what, 8 works by Plato, and at least that many by Shakespeare.
Breaking rules, something I do quite often, I'm not sure is something I'd like to embrace towards this project.
However, the rule is completely arbitrary. And beyond that, a great book is a great book, regardless the author.
Perhaps you make that arbitrary rule a "guideline" instead a rule. A guideline you can bend, rules you can't.
I think it is a good idea to try to limit the number of books from different writers, lest the reading list become dominated by a handful of writers, but at the same time don't let that keep good books off the list.
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