There is something about Thomas Sowell’s writing that always makes me think. It goes beyond the fact he scares liberals witless because he refuses to play the victim or parrot the party line. It’s something much more basic. You see, it’s difficult to read his essays and not think about what’s happening in our country today. That is especially true with his collection of articles, sold under the title Controversial Essays. I challenge each of you to pick up a copy of the book from your favorite bookseller or library and spend an hour or three with it.

Professor Sowell’s writing is not only easily readable but also very relatable by just about anyone. Don’t get me wrong. He can write an academic paper or book to rival anyone. But he can also take a serious topic and write about it in such a way the average person not only understands the facts—and the implications—but enjoys reading about it. That is dangerous, at least to the other side. The Left doesn’t want the average voter reading facts and actually thinking about the implications of their policies.

Controversial Essays is a collection of some of Professor Sowell’s newspaper essays and comments. Some are years old, but their message still stands. Unlike some of his other books, these are quick reads and organized in a way you can pick and choose what you want to read. It is a perfect read it, put it down, come back and read some more later book.

One of Professor Sowell’s essays in the book is “Racial Profiling of Authors”. The title itself should be enough to make you stop and do a double-take. After all, as Sowell points out in the first paragraph, police departments aren’t supposed to racially profile people. So why in the world are authors being racially profiled? And by whom?

The answer to the second question is easy and the professor answers it in the first paragraph. This profiling is being made by publishers and bookstores. At the time Sowell wrote the essay, they were a bit more subtle about it than they are now. Let’s face it, publishers are anything but subtle these days when it comes to “the message”.

In this case, however, Sowell found himself caught up in this conspiracy of “right think” when he discovered his book, Migrations and Cultures, filed away in the black studies section. The book is about migrations “from Europe and Asia”. So why in the world was it in the black studies section?

Only one answer makes sense—because Professor Sowell is black.

Some people may actually think that they are doing black writers a favor by setting up a black authors’ section of a bookstore. But, with friends like these, who needs enemies? Black writers, like white writers, want their books to reach the readers—and anything that interferes with that is bad news. (CE, p. 281)

Put books where the readers don’t expect to find them. Kill sales. Blame everything but the stupidity behind the shelving.

The mindset behind this sort of product placement is baffling. Most readers don’t know what the author looks like, much less what race or ethnic background the author might come from. To place a book that isn’t about “black studies” or whatever in that section is to throttle the sales pipeline down to the trickle.

The ridiculous lengths to which publishers can carry racial profiling was demonstrated to me when copies of my recently published book Basic Economics were sent out to Jet magazine, the Amsterdam News and other black publications. After I complained, copies were then sent to the Wall Street Journal and other publications dealing with economics. (CE, pg. 282)

Think about that for a minute. A book about economics by one of this country’s most famous voices on the topic at the time was NOT sent to the WSJ. But the publishers damn sure made certain the media outlets that catered to audiences with the same skin color as the author got copies. Of course, it didn’t matter if those outlets actually dealt with serious economic topics or not.

Since Professor Sowell wrote his essay, we’ve seen things go even further in publishing. Not only do bookstores continue their attempts to segregate books according to the sex or race or even religion in some instances of the author, without taking into account the content of the books, publishers and writers have really gotten into the movement as well. We’ve seen writers trying to start movements where they will only read things written by writers of a certain flavor for a whole year. Why? Because that flavor has been “marginalized” and we shouldn’t be reading anything by white, cis-male authors.

And let us not forget about publishers utilizing “sensitivity readers” to determine if books written half a century ago need to have words and whole passages rewritten to meet today’s so-called sensitivities. Earlier this month, they came after Roald Dahl. The publisher backed off after a public uproar. This week, they targeted the James Bond books. Words that might offend some readers needed to be removed, according to the publisher, but not words that might offend other readers. Somehow, these same “sensitive” publishers ignore their own double–or is it triple–standard.

Forget about content, forget about reader desires. It is all about appearances.

Professor Sowell nails it here:

You have reached the holy grail of “diversity” when you have black leftists, white leftists, female leftists and Hispanic leftists as professors. Major corporations across the country have their affirmative action officials and many also have “diversity consultants” who come in and harangue the employees with the politically correct party line on race. Not since the days when the Nazis spoke of “Jewish science” has the idea been so widespread that race is destiny as far as ideas are concerned. (CE, pg. 283)

Sowell’s economic common sense about this topic is such that it drives the “enlightened” up a wall. They refuse to admit that this attempt to shine a light on the marginalized in publishing is actually holding them back. It limits the visibility of their books in bookstores by placing titles in areas where readers don’t know to look for them. It limits visibility online because publishers first list the book according to agenda and not topic.

But if we dare speak out about this or question it, we are condemned. We’ve seen it over and over, especially in recent years. We are the ones called names and told we are the problem. They accuse us of having blinders on when their own blinders are so firmly affixed that they can’t see the problems inherent in their attempts to even the playing field.

As Sowell points out in many of the essays included in this collection, the attempt to help often leads to more problems than it solves. Once again, he’s right. Not that those crying for diversity and sensitivity and whatever else they are trying to push will ever hear, much less accept.

It is difficult to review Professor Sowell’s work without comparing what he wrote a decade or more ago and the events leading up to those essays to what’s happening today. Whether the Left wants to admit it or not, his lessons still ring true and we should all study them.

This is a solid recommendation, just as all his books are. Read it for yourself. Get copies for you kids and grandkids. But don’t just read it. Consider what he writes and discuss it. Do yourself a favor and don’t miss out on this one.

Feature Photo Credit: Victory Girls artwork of book cover by VG Darleen Click