Sowell on the Firing Line

His conservatism riles many blacks but impresses Reagan

Thomas Sowell was bound to be a favored intellectual at Ronald Reagan's White House. A prolific (eleven books) economic historian, he is an impassioned defender of conservative dogma. His own life is an advertisement for the American Dream: born poor, he dropped out of high school, attended college on the G.I. Bill, won a bachelor's degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, and went on to a distinguished teaching career. Perhaps equally attractive to the Reaganauts, Sowell is black—and claims to reflect the views of a vast, quiet...