Intellectuals and Society Lib/E

Product Description Even government leaders with disdain or contempt for intellectuals have had to bend to the climate of opinion shaped by those intellectuals. In Intellectuals and Society, Sowell examines not only the track record of intellectuals in the things they have advocated but also the incentives and constraints under which their views have emerged. One of the surprising aspects of this study is how often intellectuals have been proved not only wrong but grossly and disastrously wrong in their prescriptions for the ills of societ--and how little their views have changed in response to empirical evidence of the disasters entailed by those views. This is a book about intellectuals written for the lay person. Its purpose is to unravel the world of intellectuals in order to understand an important social phenomenon how the thinkers of our society mold that society, leaving an impact on people in every walk of life, even if they are basically unknown to the world at large. It is a portion of the population whose activities can have, and have had, momentous implications for nations and civilizations. Review "Narrator Tom Weiner paces the somewhat dense material well and handles the author's often-inflated vocabulary with ease. Thus, Weiner is able to enhance the material in a way that might trip up lesser readers. While conservatives will likely embrace Sowell's theories, even those who disagree should appreciate the well-written points and be left with much to ponder."-- "AudioFile""Sowell takes aim at the class of people who influence our public debate, institutions, and policy. Few of Sowell's targets are left standing at the end, and those who are stagger back to their corner, bloody and bruised."-- "National Review Online"Mr. Sowell builds a devastating case against the leftist antiwar political and intellectual establishment.-- "Washington Times" About the Author THOMAS SOWELL has taught economics at Cornell, UCLA, Amherst and other academic institutions. He is currently a scholar in residence at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has been published in both academic journals in such popular media as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Fortune and writes a syndicated column that appears in newspapers across the country.