SOURCE: "Behind the Curve," in The New Republic, Vol. 211, No. 18, October 31, 1994, p. 4.

[An essayist and nonfiction writer, Kaus is the author of The End of Equality (1992). In the following essay, he contends that The Bell Curve neglects the environmental factors that influence intelligence test results.]

In Losing Ground, the 1984 book that made his name, Charles Murray pooh-poohed the role of race in America's social pathology. Instead, Murray blamed liberal welfare programs that trapped black and white alike in poverty. "Focusing on blacks cripples progress," he declared in a 1986 op-ed piece (titled "Not a Matter of Race"),

because explanations of the special problems facing blacks nearly all begin with the assumption that blacks are different from everyone else, whether because of racism (as the apologists argue) or because of inherent traits (as the racists argue).

But that was then. Now, it turns out that Murray indeed thinks blacks face...