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A Man of Letters
A Man of Letters traces the life, career, and commentaries on controversial issues of Thomas Sowell over a period of more than four decades through his letters to and from family, friends, and public figures ranging from Milton Friedman to Clarence Thomas, David Riesman, Arthur Ashe, William Proxmire, Vernon Jordan, Charles Murray, Shelby Steele, and Condoleezza Rice. These letters begin with Sowell as a graduate student at the University of Chicago in 1960 and conclude with a reflective letter to his fellow economist and longtime friend Walter Williams in 2005.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Thomas Sowell
88 books5,552 followersThomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. With widely published commentary and books—and as a guest on TV and radio—he became a well-known voice in the American conservative movement as a prominent black conservative. He was a recipient of the National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush in 2002.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
Sowell was born in Gastonia, North Carolina and grew up in Harlem, New York City. Due to poverty and difficulties at home, he dropped out of Stuyvesant High School and worked various odd jobs, eventually serving in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. Afterward, he took night classes at Howard University and then attended Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1958. He earned a master's degree in economics from Columbia University the next year and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1968. In his academic career, he held professorships at Cornell University, Brandeis University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked at think tanks including the Urban Institute. Since 1977, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy.
Sowell was an important figure to the conservative movement during the Reagan era, influencing fellow economist Walter E. Williams and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He was offered a position as Federal Trade Commissioner in the Ford administration, and was considered for posts including U.S. Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, but declined both times.
Sowell is the author of more than 45 books (including revised and new editions) on a variety of subjects including politics, economics, education and race, and he has been a syndicated columnist in more than 150 newspapers. His views are described as conservative, especially on social issues; libertarian, especially on economics; or libertarian-conservative. He has said he may be best labeled as a libertarian, though he disagrees with the "libertarian movement" on some issues, such as national defense.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 23, 2018
OMG, I loved it. Loved the letter forms and telling of this with so much chronological context of the most pivotal characters in his life. Some of the letters revolving upon certain specific governmental or economic realities or unique issue occurrences (or his reactions to questions from the correspondence) I read twice. A few I read 3 times for their intrinsic and awesome logic. One which is so supremely coupled with his understated tone and savage depth savvy. And never, ever word heavy or overblown either.
What a combination of talents! What a mind! What accurate foresight!
I loved how he sees some aspects of his early life and the most unusual mentors and mentor situations as so exceptionally lucky and era specific to "helping" him to "see" so clearly. When others think just the opposite for similar backgrounds, as having been massively cheated. Judging themselves so and being enabled to this defined state of victimhood and resentments for their entire lives. I feel the exact same way about my own first 20 years as Thomas Sowell does for his first 25. It's immensely freeing to have such a situation, IMHO. Lucky, lucky to the immense possibilities to individual initiation of a full blown self.
There could be at least 50 quotes below. All of them priceless. And never more true than in the economic realities of the "helping" dynamics and their true outcomes over time.
What a combination of talents! What a mind! What accurate foresight!
I loved how he sees some aspects of his early life and the most unusual mentors and mentor situations as so exceptionally lucky and era specific to "helping" him to "see" so clearly. When others think just the opposite for similar backgrounds, as having been massively cheated. Judging themselves so and being enabled to this defined state of victimhood and resentments for their entire lives. I feel the exact same way about my own first 20 years as Thomas Sowell does for his first 25. It's immensely freeing to have such a situation, IMHO. Lucky, lucky to the immense possibilities to individual initiation of a full blown self.
There could be at least 50 quotes below. All of them priceless. And never more true than in the economic realities of the "helping" dynamics and their true outcomes over time.
March 9, 2023
Another excellent memoir from Dr. Thomas Sowell, America’s foremost intellectual. I have been a follower of Dr. Sowell since I attended a lecture in the 1990’s while I was in my first year of teaching high school. He mentioned several ideas during the lecture that I took to heart and probably cost me my teaching job a few years later but that is to the detriment of the students, I landed on my feet and moved on to teach adults. He talked about keeping high standards in the classroom several times in this book and I refused to lower mine. When the wrong student got the lowest grade in his high school career, a ‘C’, I was called by the principal and others but I refused to change the grade. That is one issue today no standards in schools, and Dr. Sowell hit on this numerous times. Another fantastic book and highly recommended…SLT
July 10, 2019
A must for any Sowell fan! A wonderful way to look back at a legendary career -- gaining fresh insight into the man, the issues, and the times. There's lots of correspondence with more contemporary figures like Walter Williams and Clarence Thomas, and not as much with Milton Friedman and other intellectuals Sowell was associated with earlier in his career. But the earlier years are filled with fascinating correspondence with private figures -- including the intriguing and mysterious 'Audrey'. Overall, highly entertaining look at one of the most impactful American political philosophers of the last century.
November 3, 2021
Perfect tile "Man of letters"
This collection of Mr. Sowell decades of letters was awesome to read. Letters that included Milton Friedman, Walter Williams and many more. You really can feel the different eras as Sowell wrote and responded to several different causes over an extensive amount of time. I would recommend this book only if you have read his other book titles first to understand his personality and humor.
This collection of Mr. Sowell decades of letters was awesome to read. Letters that included Milton Friedman, Walter Williams and many more. You really can feel the different eras as Sowell wrote and responded to several different causes over an extensive amount of time. I would recommend this book only if you have read his other book titles first to understand his personality and humor.
July 12, 2022
a book that should be read at the same time reading any biography or autobiography on Dr. Sowell.
June 27, 2019
Reading someone's mail is always a dicey proposition. Sometimes the letters that we write and receive require a bit of context, and we may read them and interpret them without a great deal of insight if we are in the habit of reading letters without communicating back to the author about matters. As might be expected, this particular book is one that includes a wide variety of correspondence, much of which has found its way into various books by the author that I have read in one form or another. In reading Sowell's letters, one gets a sense of who he is as a man, someone who has a high regard for truth and independence, someone who can deal graciously with those who disagree with him but is rather uncompromising when it comes to his worldview, and someone who has epic dramas running through decades, and someone who can keep up an excellent correspondence. These letters are certainly a pleasure to read and one can get a lot out of them, and the fact that they come with commentary by the author as well that puts these letters in context is certainly a worthwhile aspect of this book as well.
The book itself is about 350 pages and covers letters from the 1960's to the 2000's. Over the course of time we see Sowell go from a Marxist young man who is looking for a teaching job that will not require him to go soft on students who are not prepared for economics in all of its challenges. He writes recommendation letters, engages in a long romance and then uncertain flirtation with "Audrey," a woman from a privileged black family whose political journey is the opposite of the author's, and seeks to find an honored place in the world where he can write and research, all while he deals with marriage drama, a son who talks late, and political matters related to his writing and research. This only continues as the decades go on as he ably defends conservative ideals, befriends Clarence Thomas, and seeks to correct the biases and misinterpretations he is viewed, discusses aging and deals with the death of friends and family. Most of the letters are excerpts but they show Sowell as a very matter-of-fact sort of person whose analytical interests and abilities are supplemented by a strong sense of decency and humanity, but who above all has a high regard for the practical outcome of actions.
And it is that last point that comes through loud and clear in the many discussions that these letters contain. The author is not so much interested in good intentions as he is in the practical results of actions taken by people and governments. Indeed, one can find this trait even when he was a self-professed leftist who nonetheless sought empirical rigor in his university studies. And it is that empirical focus that likely led to his conversion from leftist thinking to the conservative approach for which he is well known and often applauded, at least by those who understand it. One can see in the author's letters the sort of thinking that led the author to be an immensely prolific writer, because he is always thinking of implications and always seeing new avenues to research, and always interested in mastering and helping others master the fundamental facts that allow for worthwhile insights. His criticism of the resentment factories of many humanities departments that focus on identity politics as well as his insights about affirmative action and the spinelessness of many university faculty is spot on. This is a book that gives the reader a lot of insight into Sowell's thinking and how it developed over the course of a lifetime, and it makes for deeply interesting reading.
The book itself is about 350 pages and covers letters from the 1960's to the 2000's. Over the course of time we see Sowell go from a Marxist young man who is looking for a teaching job that will not require him to go soft on students who are not prepared for economics in all of its challenges. He writes recommendation letters, engages in a long romance and then uncertain flirtation with "Audrey," a woman from a privileged black family whose political journey is the opposite of the author's, and seeks to find an honored place in the world where he can write and research, all while he deals with marriage drama, a son who talks late, and political matters related to his writing and research. This only continues as the decades go on as he ably defends conservative ideals, befriends Clarence Thomas, and seeks to correct the biases and misinterpretations he is viewed, discusses aging and deals with the death of friends and family. Most of the letters are excerpts but they show Sowell as a very matter-of-fact sort of person whose analytical interests and abilities are supplemented by a strong sense of decency and humanity, but who above all has a high regard for the practical outcome of actions.
And it is that last point that comes through loud and clear in the many discussions that these letters contain. The author is not so much interested in good intentions as he is in the practical results of actions taken by people and governments. Indeed, one can find this trait even when he was a self-professed leftist who nonetheless sought empirical rigor in his university studies. And it is that empirical focus that likely led to his conversion from leftist thinking to the conservative approach for which he is well known and often applauded, at least by those who understand it. One can see in the author's letters the sort of thinking that led the author to be an immensely prolific writer, because he is always thinking of implications and always seeing new avenues to research, and always interested in mastering and helping others master the fundamental facts that allow for worthwhile insights. His criticism of the resentment factories of many humanities departments that focus on identity politics as well as his insights about affirmative action and the spinelessness of many university faculty is spot on. This is a book that gives the reader a lot of insight into Sowell's thinking and how it developed over the course of a lifetime, and it makes for deeply interesting reading.
August 26, 2025
This is a wonderful, accessible introduction to the life and work of the prominent economist. Right off the top I must say that the narrator, Leon Nixon, did an outstanding job voicing Mr. Sowell with intelligence, just the right inflection of emotion, and clarity.
The format is a collection of letters written by Mr. Sowell to friends, family, and readers plus many leading economists, social scientists, etc. These are mostly simple, heartfelt correspondences, nothing too technical that you need a Ph.D. to comprehend.
In addition to the letters, Sowell provides brief, useful introductions and autobiographical comments. You get a good feel for the man. His mother died giving birth to his younger brother. He's adopted, raised on 145th Street in Harlem, earns admission to top colleges and graduate programs, gets mentored at the top economics program in the country, the University of Chicago, and teaches at a number of colleges before settling in as a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Now 95, he is one of our nation's leading public intellectuals.
Sound a little dry? The book isn't. It's loaded with insights and breakthrough approaches challenging the conventional wisdom on all kinds of lively topics. There's plenty of conflict -- academic departments can get a little poisonous, you may have heard. There's a note of romance including the reappearance of an old girlfriend after twenty years, a surprising twist which would require a spoiler alert. There are fascinating conversations about racial matters with major players across the political spectrum, but there's not one "woke" word spoken. In fact, Sowell's take on race and cultures will surprise you at every turn, because much of what he says comes from his expertise (economic fundamentals) and a great intellectual curiosity which informs his scholarship on everything from slavery, the history of black achievement, through the unintended consequences of "affirmative action" and the minimum wage.
Most correspondents are known to Sowell, but he also writes to ordinary citizens (names redacted) who respond to his columns. His tone is cheerful, friendly, and never inflammatory. Even when the listener/reader disagrees (as I do with him and his pal Clarence Thomas on a question of constitutional interpretation) one respects Sowell for being precise and narrow about his claims, trying not to stray into promiscuity from his vast knowledge base.
Sowell cares deeply about opportunity in America, and about young black students of promise as he once was. Written in 2007, "A Man of Letters" is still relevant today. You can see where his correspondence goes online because he dates the later letters down to the second.
It's an entertaining read, and an even more compelling listen.
The format is a collection of letters written by Mr. Sowell to friends, family, and readers plus many leading economists, social scientists, etc. These are mostly simple, heartfelt correspondences, nothing too technical that you need a Ph.D. to comprehend.
In addition to the letters, Sowell provides brief, useful introductions and autobiographical comments. You get a good feel for the man. His mother died giving birth to his younger brother. He's adopted, raised on 145th Street in Harlem, earns admission to top colleges and graduate programs, gets mentored at the top economics program in the country, the University of Chicago, and teaches at a number of colleges before settling in as a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Now 95, he is one of our nation's leading public intellectuals.
Sound a little dry? The book isn't. It's loaded with insights and breakthrough approaches challenging the conventional wisdom on all kinds of lively topics. There's plenty of conflict -- academic departments can get a little poisonous, you may have heard. There's a note of romance including the reappearance of an old girlfriend after twenty years, a surprising twist which would require a spoiler alert. There are fascinating conversations about racial matters with major players across the political spectrum, but there's not one "woke" word spoken. In fact, Sowell's take on race and cultures will surprise you at every turn, because much of what he says comes from his expertise (economic fundamentals) and a great intellectual curiosity which informs his scholarship on everything from slavery, the history of black achievement, through the unintended consequences of "affirmative action" and the minimum wage.
Most correspondents are known to Sowell, but he also writes to ordinary citizens (names redacted) who respond to his columns. His tone is cheerful, friendly, and never inflammatory. Even when the listener/reader disagrees (as I do with him and his pal Clarence Thomas on a question of constitutional interpretation) one respects Sowell for being precise and narrow about his claims, trying not to stray into promiscuity from his vast knowledge base.
Sowell cares deeply about opportunity in America, and about young black students of promise as he once was. Written in 2007, "A Man of Letters" is still relevant today. You can see where his correspondence goes online because he dates the later letters down to the second.
It's an entertaining read, and an even more compelling listen.
August 20, 2025
Glad this came out in audio. It’s always nice to see a person evolve, but remain true to factual principles. This book gives you a great arc of a great thinker. It should be read by any free-thinking person.
August 6, 2018
Not my favorite book by Thomas Sowell but it was interesting follow his life through his correspondence.
November 26, 2023
Interesting letters and some interesting ideas over the years but not as many as I had hoped for.
June 11, 2025
Excellent entry-level Sowell.
July 27, 2025
This was the second best Sowell book I have read. I will post the #1 shortly. Perhaps after or before the reiterations and template?!
August 1, 2008
Sowell is an economist whose writings I've enjoyed for years. His incisive style evokes cheers from some and denunciations from others. This book is a compilation of letters regarding social issues, life, friendships, etc., that he has written to various people over the past 40+ years. He has added additional commentary to put the letters into context. People familiar with Sowell's writings won't find any new ideas in this book, but they will see a personal side to Sowell that they've probably never seen before. It's a good book.
February 4, 2015
"Scratch an ultra-liberal and you'll find a bigot underneath."
Amiable enough written-in-three-weeks book. Easy reading. Nice to go back to hot topics in recent history; Microsoft anti-Trust suit, Monica Lewinsky, Anita Hill, Pete Rose's gambling.
I find Thomas Sowell not so much a conservative as a healthy skeptic, and am glad he stays away from religion-tinged topics.
"That a president can 'run the country' or 'Grow the economy' . . . seems childish to me. If presidents cold make the economy prosper, the economy would always be booming at election time."
Amiable enough written-in-three-weeks book. Easy reading. Nice to go back to hot topics in recent history; Microsoft anti-Trust suit, Monica Lewinsky, Anita Hill, Pete Rose's gambling.
I find Thomas Sowell not so much a conservative as a healthy skeptic, and am glad he stays away from religion-tinged topics.
"That a president can 'run the country' or 'Grow the economy' . . . seems childish to me. If presidents cold make the economy prosper, the economy would always be booming at election time."
February 22, 2008
A collection of correspondences to and from Thomas Sowell, a famous economist. He discusses a variety of important issues including government, foreign affairs, affirmative action, etc. He has some very interesting thoughts and opinions. He is eloquent and passionate.
February 28, 2024
This is actually a good accompaniment to his memoir, A Personal Odyssey. He collects several letters he wrote (and a few select ones addressed to him) to sketch his reactions to various events in his life. He has quite the dry wit. It was a treat to get a further glimpse into his life.
July 8, 2013
Fascinating person...one of my personal heroes...such a brilliant and courageous man...thank you, Mr. Sowell
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews