SOURCE: "What is Intelligence, and Who Has It?," in The New York Times Book Review, October 16, 1994, pp. 3, 41, 45.

[In the following review, Browne examines The Bell Curve, J. Philippe Rushton's Race, Evolution, and Behavior, and Seymour W. Itzkoff's The Decline of Intelligence in America, focusing on IQ testing and the role of genetics in determining the intellectual potential of a person or group.]

One may loathe or share the opinions expressed in the three books under review, but one thing seems clear: The government or society that persists in sweeping their subject matter under the rug will do so at its peril.

The issues raised by the scholars who wrote these books bear intimately on America's near future: its quality of life, its citizens' sense of belonging, its economic survival and the very foundations of a democratic society. They believe that America is rapidly evolving a huge underclass, an...