Are Jews electric?

I find it difficult to review audio books. The voice interferes with my internal monologue, and I can't mark quotes to use in the title. But I'm going to try, from now on, because why not?

Thomas Sowell's is the kind of political incorrectness I like. Not the kind that hides dumb prejudice behind smart words, but the kind that thinks freely and soundly in uncomfortable and unpopular ways.

The essays in Black Rednecks and White Liberals deal with slavery, privilege, and the causes of cultural success and failure. In one essay, Sowell argues that black American ghetto culture is an inheritance from Southern rednecks, who inherited it from the English-Scottish border region. Far from something to preserve for its African authenticity, it is something to rise above.

Elsewhere he emphasizes that slavery was not uniquely American, but a common factor in all parts of the world. What was unique to America (and Britain) was that somebody eventually objected to it on moral grounds.

The common theme of these essays is one I agree with, that we should not abuse history as a source of moral myths for our time, but accept it for the ugly mess that it is. Disadvantaged groups should not look to the past for excuses, but focus on self improvement in the present.

Some ideas here are uncontroversial, others speculative, but I'm beyond the need to fully agree or disagree with a book like this. I value it for being interesting and well argued, and reserve judgment for later.