shopping cart
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Original Essays | June 27, 2009

All posts by Fran Cannon Slayton On Wakes and Rum (and Coke)

"Unfortunately, I've been to my fair share of wakes." Continue »


  1. $11.89 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    When the Whistle Blows

    Fran Cannon Slayton

Ships free on qualified orders.
$10.95
List price: $18.00
TRADE PAPER, USED
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Local Warehouse Politics- United States Culture


The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life

by Richard Hernstein

The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The seminal book about IQ and class that ignited one of the most explosive controversies in decades, now updated with a new Afterword by Charles Murray

Breaking new ground and old taboos, Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray tell the story of a society in transformation. At the top, a cognitive elite is forming in which the passkey to the best schools and the best jobs is no longer social background but high intelligence. At the bottom, the common denominator of the underclass is increasingly low intelligence rather than racial or social disadvantage.

The Bell Curve describes the state of scientific knowledge about questions that have been on people's minds for years but have been considered too sensitive to talk about openly — among them, IQ's relationship to crime, unemployment, welfare, child neglect, poverty, and illegitimacy; ethnic differences in intelligence; trends in fertility among women of different levels of intelligence; and what policy can do — and cannot do — to compensate for differences in intelligence. Brilliantly argued and meticulously documented, The Bell Curve is the essential first step in coming to grips with the nation's social problems.

Review:

Prof. Eugene D. GenoveseNational ReviewRichard Herrnstein and Charles Murray might not feel at home with Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Lani Guinier, but they should....They have all [made] brave attempts to force a national debate on urgent matters that will not go away. And they have met the same fate. Once again, academia and the mass media are straining every muscle to suppress debate.

Review:

Michael NovakNational ReviewOur intellectual landscape has been disrupted by the equivalent of an earthquake.

Review:

Chester E. Finn, Jr.CommentaryThe Bell Curve's implications will be as profound for the beginning of the new century as Michael Harrington's discovery of "the other America" was for the final part of the old. Richard Herrnstein's bequest to us is a work of great value. Charles Murray's contribution goes on.

Review:

David BrooksThe Wall Street JournalHas already kicked up more reaction than any social?science book this decade.

Review:

Prof. Thomas J. BouchardContemporary Psychology[The authors] have been cast as racists and elitists and The Bell Curve has been dismissed as pseudoscience....The book's message cannot be dismissed so easily. Herrnstein and Murray have written one of the most provocative social science books published in many years....This is a superbly written and exceedingly well documented book.

Review:

Christopher CaldwellAmerican SpectatorThe Bell Curve is a comprehensive treatment of its subject,never mean-spirited or gloating. It gives a fair hearing to those who dissent scientifically from its propositions — in fact, it bends over backward to be fair....Among the dozens of hostile articles that have thus far appeared, none has successfully refuted any of its science.

Review:

Malcolme W. BrowneThe New York Times Book ReviewMr. Murray and Mr. Herrnstein write that "for the last 30 years, the concept of intelligence has been a pariah in the world of ideas," and that the time has come to rehabilitate rational discourse on the subject. It is hard to imagine a democratic society doing otherwise.

Synopsis:

The controversial New York Times national bestseller--now updated with a comprehensive response to critics. Covered on front pages around the world--reviled, praised, defended, and deplored--this seminal examination of the relationship between ethnicity and intelligence has "kicked up more reaction than any other social-science book of this decade" (David Brooks, The Wall Street Journal).

Synopsis:

The seminal book about IQ and class that ignited one of the most explosive controversies in decades, now updated with a new Afterword by Charles Murray

Breaking new ground and old taboos, Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray tell the story of a society in transformation. At the top, a cognitive elite is forming in which the passkey to the best schools and the best jobs is no longer social background but high intelligence. At the bottom, the common denominator of the underclass is increasingly low intelligence rather than racial or social disadvantage.

The Bell Curve describes the state of scientific knowledge about questions that have been on people's minds for years but have been considered too sensitive to talk about openly — among them, IQ's relationship to crime, unemployment, welfare, child neglect, poverty, and illegitimacy; ethnic differences in intelligence; trends in fertility among women of different levels of intelligence; and what policy can do — and cannot do — to compensate for differences in intelligence. Brilliantly argued and meticulously documented, The Bell Curve is the essential first step in coming to grips with the nation's social problems.

Description:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 689-858) and index.

About the Author

Richard J. Herrnstein held the Edger Pierce Chair in Psychology at Harvard University until his death in 1994.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

A Note to the Reader

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I.

THE EMERGENCE OF A COGNITIVE ELITE

1 Cognitive Class and Education, 1900-1990

2 Cognitive Partitioning by Occupation

3 The Economic Pressure to Partition

4 Steeper Ladders, Narrower Gates

PART II.

COGNITIVE CLASSES AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

5 Poverty

6 Schooling

7 Unemployment, Idleness, and Injury

8 Family Matters

9 Welfare Dependency

10 Parenting

11 Crime

12 Civility and Citizenship

PART III.

THE NATIONAL CONTEXT

13 Ethnic Differences in Cognitive Ability

14 Ethnic Inequalities in Relation to IQ

15 The Demography of Intelligence

16 Social Behavior and the Prevalence of Low Cognitive Ability

PART IV.

LIVING TOGETHER

17 Raising Cognitive Ability

18 The Leveling of American Education

19 Affirmative Action in Higher Education

20 Affirmative Action in the Workplace

21 The Way We Are Headed

22 A Place for Everyone

Afterworld

APPENDIXES

1 Statistics for People Who Are Sure They Can't Learn Statistics

2 Technical Issues Regarding the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

3 Technical Issues Regarding the Armed Forces Qualification Test as a Measure of IQ

4 Regression Analyses (rom Part II

5 Supplemental Material for Chapter 13

6 Regression Analyses from Chapter 14

7 The Evolution of Affirmative Action in the Workplace

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Product Details

ISBN:
9780684824291
Subtitle:
Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
With:
Murray, Charles
With:
Murray, Charles
Author:
Herrnstein, Richard J.
Author:
Murray, Charles
Author:
Murray, Charles
Publisher:
Free Press
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Sociology - General
Subject:
Sociology - Social Theory
Subject:
Educational Psychology
Subject:
Intellect
Subject:
Intelligence levels
Subject:
Nature and nurture
Subject:
General Current Events
Subject:
United States - General
Copyright:
Edition Description:
B102
Series:
Free Press Paperbacks Book
Series Volume:
no. 966-967
Publication Date:
January 1996
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
912
Dimensions:
9.26x6.30x1.50 in. 2.16 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $12.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list
  2. $6.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  3. $5.00 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  4. $12.95 Used Hardcover add to wish list
  5. $9.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  6. $3.75 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Lenin for Beginners

    Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.