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 Best book on Race October 3, 2008
Dr. Sowell always has interesting input on a wide variety of subjects, and this book is proof. The book is over 370 pages and only the first 63 are dedicated to the book's namesake; "Black Rednecks and White Liberals". Other essays in the book include the topics of education (mainly in the Black community), German history, the real history of slavery in the world and how it's abolishment is the result of Western civilization, and the Jewish role commerce, and how they're a middleman "minority".
The central theme of the essay "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" is that mainstream "Black culture" is just remnants of white Southern culture - which didn't originate in the South, but in parts of the British Isles, where most Southerners came from; everything from ways of talking, attitudes towards education, violence, sex, etc. It's a transplanted culture that was abandoned by its originators. Most Southern white people came from the northern borderlands of England, Scottish highlands and Ulster County, Ireland - all areas which were poor and nearly lawless. What these people brought to the United States were a whole collection of attitudes, values and behavior patterns that proved to be counterproductive in the U.S. - and prove to be counterproductive to Blacks, who lived in their midst for centuries before they were free and migrated to the North, taking those "values" with them.
Lack of entrepreneurship was also common among "redneck culture". In the book "The Cotton Kingdom", by Fredrick Law Olmsted, he noted that the work found the most efficiently done work, well established businesses in the South were either run by Northerners, foreigners or Jews. Professor Grady McWhiney also noted that in his book "Cracker Culture", as well as the fact that white Southerners always had shortages of butter (in 1860, the South had 40% of all dairy cows in the US et only produced 20% of the butter and 1% of cheese). Compare that to German farmers in Wisconsin at the same time.
Southern inventions were no different. In 1851, for example, only 8% of the patents issued went to residents in the South. Even in agriculture, the prime economic sector of the South, only 9 of the 62 patents (not even 15%) for agricultural equipment went to Southerners. The cotton gin, for example, the most crucial invention for the South, was invented by a Northerner.
The redneck culture is a less achieving culture, and this culture has affected a higher proportion of Blacks than whites, since only 1/3 of whites lived in the antebellum South, whereas 9/10 of all Blacks did.
This book is different from the thesis that there are innate differences in intelligence between the races. It's about culture, not race. West Indians, who are darker and typically have less "white blood" exceeded whites in terms of income - even back in the 1970s. Second generation West Indians in Manhattan, for example, made 58% more money than non-West Indian Black families, an in 2004, the vast majority of the Black alumni at Harvard were either Africans or West Indians - or children of them. Black IQ in the North is consistently higher than it is in the South, and in World War 1 mental tests, Black soldiers from Northern states scored higher than whites from Southern states. Also, in that same era, European immigrants from cultures where education was not highly valued (mostly Eastern and Southern Europe), scored the same as Blacks, and in some tests, lower. Read Intelligence and Immigration by Clifford Kirkpatrick, Intelligence Tests of Foreign Children from the Journal of Educational Psychology, and A Study of Natio-Racial Mental Differences from the Genetic Psychology Monographs.
"White Liberals" and some Blacks make excuses for the destruction of the Black family, and blame it on the "legacy of slavery", which is nonsense. Broken Black homes were far, far more common at the end of the 20th century than the end of the 19th century, even though the Blacks at the end of the 19th century were just a single generation out of slavery. Also, when slavery was abolished, there were desperate efforts for freed Black men find separated family members. The white liberals also just want to throw other people money at non-productiveness as if that will fix anything. In reality, it will just accelerate the problem.
Brillant September 9, 2008
This is an amazing work of art. I am only on page 55 and I cannot believe the wealth of knowledge this book has already revealed to me. This book has taught me so much of history which isn't taught in the classroom and definitely is not touched on by the liberal media. It seems like these facts of history have been hidden or covered up by our society only to hinder the black community. Being mulatto myself I can see how this books explanation of past events all make so much more sense now. Growing up I have always wondered why blacks talk different and why they have to show off and act quite stupid sometimes. I often felt out of place because of my lighter skin and proper English. Not to mention the harassment from primarily blacks not whites because of these differences. This should be required reading in all sociology classes across the U.S. It sheds so much light on race relations and how we got into the mess we are currently in.
The Smartest Man in America August 1, 2008
The more Thomas Sowell I read, the more I want. Few writers are capable of conveying so much information in so few words. Dr. Sowell concisely relates each fact while composing a greater message, which ultimately stimulates the reader to explore new avenues and ask more questions. The "black redneck" concept debunks the myth of inner city ghetto "culture," which is nothing more than a relocation of white southern redneck "culture." In Black Rednecks, the section on slavery is particularly compelling due to the radical departure from the standard of "the white man's history of its treatment of sub-Saharan Africans." Sowell's topic actually is the whole of slavery. Dr. Sowell's examination of German cultural evolution toward WWII and since is novel and insightful. It is tremendously gratifying to sit down with the work of an author who never disappoints.
AWESOME READ July 12, 2008
Great Book and great Author. It is good to see a brother break this down and tell the truth. We need more thinkers like Thomas.
accurate to the extreme October 22, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Though the left will always look for gray areas, when you spend years accumulating historical FACTS like Sowell and his staff did here, it paints an accurate picture that's hardly debatable. Again, those who loathe this book did not read it. It's not an editorial but a true NEWS/history book, and not in the "news" or "history" sense you'd find in the NY Times or your local university indoctrination chamber. Too bad collegians are instead spoonfed books and films from Mikey Moore, al-Gore, John "the moron" Stewart and Cornell West, rather than one of America's most brilliant minds like Dr. Sowell.
The first chapter, which holds the book's title, is especially great and explains why and where our current societal issues come from. The "Real History of Slavery" is too real for America haters to read. As a Jew, the chapter on Jews is concise and true. Like most of the book, it's worth your time and will benefit your mindset.
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