Ding dong.

• Author: Hazlett, Thomas W.

Charles Murray fails to ring my bell.

WHEN CHARLES MURRAY'S IN Pursuit came out in 1988, I wrote him a two-page letter extolling the work. Filled with fascinating insights, the book made the case for individual liberty in real, fleshy tones. It was a brilliant treatise, a fact not lost on The Washington Post's William Raspberry, who made his book report a two-part editorial page series. Despite philosophical differences with Murray, he was profoundly challenged by the tome.

Having read Charles's last great book, I very much look forward to reading his next. But based on his recent attempt in The New Republic to summarize his current ballyhooed effort, The Bell Curve is not it.

To his credit, Murray looks the bull squarely in the eyes in the essay, focusing on the alleged relationship between IQ and race. The short story is that raw intelligence counts for a lot in life and that IQ doesn't change much for either individuals (at least after their potty-training years) or for groups. African Americans as a group are low on the IQ totem pole, Asians high, Europeans in the middle. So? The fact that individuals differ widely and that attitude also counts for a lot encompasses everything that is relevant about racial differences for public policy.

The most upbeat recommendation Charles can muster is for each group to celebrate its own relative qualities (even if intelligence ain't among 'em). If the Scots can celebrate thrift (because their clan is known to be so tight they squeak), then all of us can look to pronounced group attributes as handsome qualities, and rejoice in our genetically driven uniqueness. Thus, what Murray labels a conservative multiculturalism.

Is abject social failure to be offset by the counterclaim: "Where I'm from, people are desperately poor and stupid, but pride themselves on being outstanding at a wide range of Nintendo games"? This is offensiveness squared! Wasn't it In Pursuit that boldly explained how happiness is achieved via an individual's performance against himself--according to all the best scientific research. Not a lot about group performance there. Race norming, liberal or conservative, emits an odious scent, one which would make a devotee of In Pursuit's glorification of the American Dream gag.

The thesis that good genes are terribly important is unassailable, but they are surely far less important than other environmental variables--such as place of birth. A smart person born in China will, on average...