Maverick

Sowell would never write this book about himself. He's too understated for that. Jason Riley did it for him, and it's the first real biography ever published on the man. Riley dug up details Sowell left out of his own memoir. The book traces his evolution from a Marxist in college to a free-market economist, his years under Milton Friedman and George Stigler at Chicago, and how he became one of the most influential thinkers in America while refusing to play the media game. Fair warning: this is mostly an intellectual biography. You won't learn much about his personal life. For that, read A Personal Odyssey first.