The “rest of the story” is the biographical information that Sowell is too modest to refer to in his article.
In “A Personal Odyssey” Sowell recounts his childhood in Harlem and his tough time in the educational system. He had to drop out of High School but after the Marine Corps ended up magna cum laude at Harvard for his Bachelors in economics. Working hard and eventually getting a doctorate from the University of Chicago, he left his early study of Marx and became a free market man through force of intelligent observation, not through some sort of political conversion.
He was the perfect candidate for the politics of race and victimization, but just too damn intelligent to buy into it.
At age 84 this brilliant man is still writing the most deep and thoughtful books as well as his columns that are wonderful educational moments.
If we had to pick the four writers that redefined modern conservatism in the chronological order of their ascendancy, we could do no better than Russell Kirk — Fredric Hayek — Milton Friedman — Thomas Sowell.
Good point and funny you mention that.
A couple days ago I saw a very short video (1 minute plus) segment where Peter Robinson asked Dr. Sowell about how he went from a high school dropout to a Harvard graduate in so few years.
Dr. Sowell didn’t go into it and was very modest about it.
Very apt tribute the great professor Thomas Sowell!