Advance praise for A Man of Letters by Thomas Sowell:
“I read everything with Tom Sowell’s name on it, no matter what the subject, and I’m never disappointed. Now we have 40 years of his letters to everyone from Milton Friedman to Vernon Jordan. Lo and behold, they’re every bit as scintillating as you might suspect. His letters are both readable and profound. Tom Sowell is amazing!”
--Fred Barnes, Executive Editor, The Weekly Standard
“A Man of Letters reveals some of the private side of the life and career of one of America’s true scholars. Sowell’s correspondence provides testimony to the real compassion that can only have its roots in hard-minded dispassionate analysis.”
--Dr. Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, George Mason University
“Dr. Sowell and I are but five months apart in age yet, when I was a little boy, I would not have been allowed to play with him. Ironic, as throughout my adult life I have hung on his every word, believing him to be the brightest man I have ever known. These letters, over a span of forty-seven years, are a treasury of insight and reason. My only complaint is that he chose not to include any from earlier than 1960.”
--G. Gordon Liddy, Host, “The G. Gordon Liddy Show”, Radio America
STANFORD-- A Man of Letters (Encounter Books, April 2007) by Thomas Sowell is a collection of personal correspondence between Thomas Sowell and leaders in American political thought beginning in the 1960’s. Through a series of personal and candid letters, Sowell examines social and political issues of the times with colleagues and friends—including his mentors George Stigler and Milton Friedman.
From the tumult of the 60’s, to academic fashions of the 70’s, to political and social change in the 80’s and 90’s, to developments in the current century, Sowell engages in spirited dialogue with friends and foes alike in A Man of Letters.
The book illuminates Sowell’s place at the center of American political, cultural, economic and intellectual life. A Man of Letters is pure unvarnished Sowell.
With correspondence between Vernon Jordan, Walter Williams, Senator Sam Ervin, James Buchanan, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a number of other luminaries—the book bristles with information and insight.
Reading A Man of Letters is a way to see the history of the country and the history of one of its controversial scholars at the same time, both told in plain but compelling words.
