Charles Murray: Book Review: 'A Troublesome Inheritance' by Nicholas Wade - "The book is a delight to read–conversational and lucid. "And it will trigger an intellectual explosion the likes of which we haven’t seen for a few decades."

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Only a 'social construct'?

Book Review: 'A Troublesome Inheritance' by Nicholas Wade

America's modern struggle with race has proceeded on three fronts. The legal battle effectively ended a half-century ago with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The second front, the battle against private prejudice, has not been won so decisively, but the experiences of Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling in the past few weeks confirm a longstanding truth about American society: Expressions of racial prejudice by public figures are punished swiftly and severely.

The third front is different in kind. This campaign is waged not against actual violations of civil rights or expressions of prejudice or hatred, but against the idea that biological differences among human populations are a legitimate subject of scholarly study. The reigning intellectual orthodoxy is that race is a "social construct," a cultural artifact without biological merit. . . .

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