I was asked if I knew Thomas Sowell. Here is my answer to that question:

Yes I know him. I’m an editor of his:

Sowell, Thomas. 1982. “Weber and Bakke and the presuppositions of ‘Affirmative Action,'” Discrimination, Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, Walter E. Block and Michael Walker, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, pp. 37-63

Here’s my Thomas Sowell story.

I wrote him asking that he send me an unpublished article or an essay for my forthcoming edited book: Discrimination, Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity

He said he would. But then, when he sent it to me, he said that if I changed even one single word of it, he would not allow me to publish it. (I later learned that he had been burned by editors changing the meaning of what he wrote 180 degrees. He didn’t realize I was a big fan of his, and would never do anything like that. Heck, I wouldn’t do that even to an author of mine with whom I disagreed. When I edit books, sometimes I include people with whom I sharply disagree).

In any case I read his essay with great care. Heck, my editorial dander was up. I found, oh, to my best recollection, maybe a half dozen typographical errors. I wrote him back saying I’d publish what he sent me with the typos remaining in it, but, I’ll really like to correct his typos. Would that be ok? He ok’d that. Whew.

He really deserves a Nobel Prize in economics. He’d have long ago been awarded it were there any justice in the world. But this will not likely ever occur, since his views are not exactly politically correct.

Walter E. Block, Ph.D.

The Best of Walter E. Block