Losing an American Treasure
American journalism – and in particular, conservative commentary – has lost a true treasure and an intellectual giant.
Thomas Sowell: “My Farewell Column”
Thanks for all you’ve written over the years – both your commentary, and your books and other academic works. Thanks as well for the insight and truth those works have contained.
Enjoy your well earned retirement, Dr. Sowell. At age 86, you’ve certainly earned that. Best wishes.
And to paraphrase a man named Rudyard: “Yer a better man than I am, Dr. S.”
Category: Politics
I remember reading his book The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective back in college.
His insights into economic data and theory shredded the economic and policy perceptions of my professors in an exquisite and life-long manner.
That Dr. Sowell’s writings literally changed the way I see the world is an understatement and does not do justice to his vision and insight.
I believe I have read nearly all Dr. Sowell has written over the past 20 +/- years. His leaving journalism moves the peg slightly further to the left, a direction in which we have been moving for some time.
Wishing you many more years of health living, Dear Sir.
Economic Truth and Fallacies is a must read.
Our resident commie should read his Basic Economics and Applied Economics books.
His pointy little head would shoot steam as he shat his britches after reading the first paragraph.
Forgive me friends…
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Guy+Shits+Himself+Weight+Lifting&&view=detail&mid=E09A63C8CEC2D8FF3136E09A63C8CEC2D8FF3136&FORM=VRDGAR
I’ll throw in a mention for “Vision of the Anointed”, for anyone interested in what motivates the left.
Those are all good recommendations…his Marxism and Preferential Policies: Rhetoric and Reality were my favorites among his books.
Not every great columnist is also good at book length, and vice versa, but Dr. Sowell was good at both. I love his columns of aphorisms (“The only true rule of the road is that idiots have the right of way.”) — the laugh-out-loud funniest, if you remember the Clinton years and their rhetoric, has to be “Rip van Washington” (collected in Barbarians Inside the Gates).
I mixed up two books there…the subtitle of Preferential Policies is An International Perspective…that’s what made it so fascinating. It described “affirmative action” in India, which works about the same as it does here…great for filling up government offices with people from “scheduled castes,” and generating fake majors in universities, but not so great at the results it was designed for.
He started writing a column when he was my age? That’s usually when we tend to ‘retire’ from that kind of work. This is encouraging, because I’m just getting started, and my views are apolitical. I guess I can grab a copy here and there of his works.
Happy retirement, Doc!
He has the amazing ability to explain fairly complex things in simple, everyday language that everybody can understand.
We’ll miss ya Doc.
Yep one of the saddest columns I’ve read recently…
Dr. Sowell has the gift of wisdom, clear speaking, and humble grace.
I suspect one of the reasons the leftists go for name calling, aspersions, and virtue-signaling self-righteousness is because none of them – absolutely none of them – can hold a reasoned discourse with Tomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Cal Thomas, or Dennis Praeger.
I am absolutely sad, sad, sad. I Love Thomas Sowell. He is one of the smartest men alive. I wish more people would read his work and understand it.
Indeed he is filled with grace and wisdom. I will miss his work. Enjoy yourself, sir. You’ve earned it!
He will be sorely missed.
Sad to see him go, I’ll miss him as well. He didn’t get where he is by accident, he worked his way up like Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, Ben Carson and a host of others did while getting slurred as “Uncle Tom” and other derogatory names by the left because they dared to leave the Liberal Plantation.
All that and he was a Marine too.
Now hold the phone, everybody! DR SOWELL ISN’T “RETIRING”, he’s just decided to stop writing his column. He still has other projects in the pipeline. Heard Dr Sowell interviewed this week on Larry Elder’s talk show and that’s how he explained it.
You are so right. He will now not have a deadline and can write or not as he pleases. Faithful readers of his, however, will miss their regular dose.