The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy

by Thomas Sowell Narrated by Tom Weiner

Overview

In this devastating critique of the mindset behind the failed social policies of the past few decades, Thomas Sowell sees what has happened not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a vision whose defects have led to disasters in education, crime, family disintegration, and more. This is an empirical study in which “politically correct” theory is repeatedly confronted with facts, and the sharp contradictions between the two are explained in terms of a set of self-congratulatory assumptions held by political and intellectual elites. These elites-the anointed-often consider themselves “thinking people,” but this thinking is actually rhetorical assertion, followed by evasions of mounting evidence against these assertions. The vision of the anointed is seen not merely as a failure but as a fatal danger to the values and the future of American society.

Editorial Reviews

Wall Street Journal

As compelling an explanation as any for the seemingly disproportionate amount of condescension and politically correct invective that emanates from the liberal side of the political spectrum toward the conservative opposition.

New York Times Book Review

An important and incisive book.

From the Publisher

"This is as compelling an explanation as any for the seemingly disproportionate amount of condescension and politically correct invective that emanates from the liberal side of the political spectrum toward the conservative opposition."—Scott McConnell, Wall Street Journal

"As always, Sowell's analysis is well informed and displays a great deal of that increasingly uncommon quality, common sense ... In the largest sense, The Vision of the Anointed is a book about the perils of ideology — those dazzling intellectual-moral constructions that seduce the unwary into ignoring the way the world works for the sake of dreams about the way it must."—Roger Kimball, The American Spectator

"Mr. Sowell's eye is sharp, and everyone who has been up against progressive orthodoxy will find his or her own candidate for Most Annoying Liberal Kiss-Off Award."—Suzanne Garment, Washington Times

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169894615
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	08/23/2010
Edition description:	Unabridged

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