Letters to the editor.

• Author: Sowell, Thomas
• Position: Letter to the editor

When I was teaching, one of the phrases I had many occasions to write on students' papers was: "Specify, do not characterize." James C. W. Ahiakpor's review of my book On Classical Economics in the fall 2007 issue was long on characterizations and short on specifics.

The fact that various other writers have interpreted things differently is characterized by him as their having "corrected" such interpretations as mine. The fact that these differing interpretations are more recent than some of the writings reprinted in my book is offered as a substitute for any specifics as to why they are more accurate. There have been different interpretations before, during, and after what I wrote. But that says nothing about which is more accurate or why.

The opening characterization of the review--"Thomas Sowell's On Classical Economics is about how little Sowell thinks of classical economics"--telegraphed the approach of substituting cheap shots for analysis.

Professor Ahiakpor replies:

I find Thomas Sowell's reaction to my review of his book rather puzzling. In my understanding, a book reviewer's task is to summarize and evaluate a book's contents so as to alert readers to what they may expect. A book review thus entails characterization, as my 1980 copy of the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary confirms in defining characterize as "to describe the character or quality of" and review (verb) as "to give a critical evaluation of."

A book review is not the place for detailed counteranalysis or criticisms. Thus, I gave brief explanations of why Sowell's treatment of the...