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Sowell has reached a guru-like status—similar to Chomsky on the left—with many followers who insist he can do no wrong. In that sense, he is overrated.

But I think Sowell is still superior Ferguson. Ferguson relies too much on rhetoric rather than empirical evidence.

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'Ferguson relies too much on rhetoric rather than empirical evidence.'

You wouldn't like to flesh out that aspersion, would you?

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I'm just going off my personal impression based on a reading of one of his books and an article or two of his. It's possible I haven't sampled enough of his work to make an accurate judgement.

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That's fine, any example of rhetoric over empirical evidence from that one book or either of the two articles will suffice.

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It's been a while—I don't even remember the name of the book. I just recall that, despite its stylish prose, it seemed light on hard-core empirical content. I prefer a more straightforward, just-the-facts style with minimal filler.

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