sowell black rednecks and white liberals

White liberals, gangsta-rap aficionados and others who lionize its ghetto remnants as an authentic black identity, Sowell contends, have their history wrong and help perpetuate cultural pathologies that hold blacks back. The title essay posits a 'black redneck' culture inherited from the white redneck culture of the South and characterized by violent machismo, shiftlessness and disdain for schooling.

Hoover Institution Fellow Sowell, author of Ethnic America, argues that 'internal' cultural habits of industriousness, thriftiness, family solidarity and reverence for education often play a greater role in the success of ethnic minorities than do civil-rights laws or majority prejudices. One of America's foremost black conservative intellectuals returns with this provocative collection of contrarian essays. 'Black Rednecks and White Liberals' is the capstone of decades of outstanding research and writing on racial and cultural issues by Thomas Sowell. So too are the inspiring achievements and painful tragedies of black education in the United States. The reasons for the venomous hatred of Jews, and of other groups like them in countries around the world, are explored in an essay that asks, 'Are Jews Generic?' Misconceptions of German history in general, and of the Nazi era in particular, are also re-examined. An essay titled 'The Real History of Slavery' presents a jolting re-examination of that tragic institution and the narrow and distorted way it is too often seen today. It presents eye-opening insights into the historical development of the ghetto culture that is today wrongly seen as a unique black identity-a culture cheered on toward self-destruction by white liberals who consider themselves 'friends' of blacks. In a series of long essays, this book presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many mistaken and dangerous actions, policies, and trends.

Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on not only the trendy intellectuals of our times but also such historic interpreters of American life as Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Law Olmsted.

This explosive new book challenges many of the long-prevailing assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans, about slavery, and about education.

Sowell black rednecks and white liberals