First proposed 25 years ago, the flat tax has proven most influential in the unlikeliest of places: state capitals—and the capitals of other nations. By Alvin Rabushka.

Thomas Sowell takes on a range of legal, social, racial, educational, and economic issues—along with "the culture wars"—in this latest collection of his controversial, never boring, always thought-provoking essays. From "gun control myths" to "mealy mouth media" to "free lunch medicine," Sowell gets to the heart of the matters we all care about with his characteristically unswerving candor.