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Charles Murray

Charles Murray is the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. A political scientist, author, and libertarian, he first came to national attention in 1984 with the publication of “Losing Ground,” which has been credited as the intellectual foundation for the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. His 1994 New York Times bestseller “The Bell Curve” (Free Press, 1994), coauthored with the late Richard J. Herrnstein, sparked heated controversy for its analysis of the role of IQ in shaping America’s class structure. Dr. Murray’s other books include “What It Means to Be a Libertarian” (1997), “Human Accomplishment” (2003), “In Our Hands” (2006), “Real Education” (2008), and the New York Times bestseller “Coming Apart” (2012). His most recent book, “By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission” (Crown Forum, 2015) urges Americans to stem governmental overreach and use America’s unique civil society to put government back in its place. Dr. Murray has Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in history from Harvard University.

Series

3 Whisky Happy Hour, 3 episodesThe Glenn Show, 1 episodeThe Ricochet Podcast, 2 episodes

Recent Episodes

The Glenn Show
The Glenn Show

Charles Murray – A Controversial Political Scientist’s Spiritual Awakening

Support The Glenn Show at https://glennloury.substack.com Video Links 0:00 Charles’s new book, Taking Religious Seriously 8:31 Why Charles finds the idea of divine creation plausible 13:54 Charles’s “road to Damascus” moment 19:25 The appeal of Christianity 24:51 The evidence for life after death 31:38 Charles: “The relative positions of science and religion have flipped” 36:42 The trouble with scientism 40:17 Glenn’s steps toward and away from religion 51:04 Was The Bell Curve putting making a deterministic argument? Recorded November 4, 2025 Links and Readings Charles’s new book, Taking Religious Seriously Charles’s book, Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 Richard Herrnstein and Charles’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life Charles’s book, Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class Charles’s book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 Martin Rees’s book, Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe James Q. Wilson’s book, The Moral Sense C.S. Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity Raymond Moody’s book, Life after Life: A Groundbreaking Exploration of Near-Death Experiences and the Transformative Insights into the Afterlife, Backed by Scientific Study and Personal Testimonies Steven Pinker’s book, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe

Hosted by Glenn Loury

October 2025

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

An Empiricist’s Guide to the Search for God

Charles Murray's inquiries into social science have resulted in the publication of a number of the most important (and controversial) academic books of the past half-century. It's safe to say he enjoys complexity and taking a stand — and yet there's one big question that Mr. Murray spent half his life dismissing, and the second half marveling at without quite settling. Today, he sits down with Steve, Charlie and a visiting Peter Robinson to discuss his most personal work yet, the just-released Taking Religion Seriously. Plus, our trio of merry hosts basks in the Democrats' disarray and they take a closer look at the Supreme Court's hearing in the Callais case that will settle the contradictions between the 14th Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Sound clip from this week's open: Justice Brown Jackson spars with an attorney during the Callais v. Louisiana hearing.

Hosted by Charles C. W. Cooke, Peter Robinson, and Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet

January 2022

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

A Conversation with Charles Murray and Steve Sailer, Pt. 2

After we recorded and posted part 1 of this conversation last week, the news came out that the Supreme Court will hear the Harvard/University of North Carolina affirmative action admissions cases. It has been solidly demonstrated that the universities don’t just use race as a minor, tie-breaking “plus” factor, but indeed put both feet on the scale in favor of blacks and to a lesser degree Hispanics, and heavily against Asian applicants. This makes for a perfect launching point for the second half the conversation, where we jump in exactly where we left off in part 1. Charles and Steve Sailer had just reviewed the falling crime rates in Hispanic communities, and we resume here with Charles bluntly and directly arguing that affirmative action is the 50-ton elephant in the room, and not just in college admissions.

Hosted by Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet
3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

A Conversation with Charles Murray and Steve Sailer, Pt. 1

The idea for this episode was born on Twitter. Someone wondered if Charles Murray would be willing to do a podcast with journalist Steve Sailer, who, like Charles, is willing to confront openly the most delicate aspects of race and class in America—and gets the same treatment from liberals everywhere: complete demonization. I offered to host, and Charles and Steve, who have never met, agreed. Well I asked a lot of questions, by mostly just tried to get out of the way and let Charles and Steve talk, and really work through some questions at leisure. We talked so long that this became a two-part episode (with part 2 coming next week). We start here with some general observations about "the great awokening" of the last decade, and how the roots of the madness we saw in the aftermath of George Floyd's death in 2020 were well under way years before. What were those roots, and how did Obama figure into this story? The consequences of substituting "equity" for equality are too obvious to need mentioning, but we discuss them anyway. The second half, next week, will examine some of the more specific aspects of education today, starting with the current attack on meritocracy, which Charles and Steve agree, paradoxically, is not without it merits! P.S. Here's the podcast episode with Charles from four years ago that I mention in the introduction, "How Charles Murray Became Charles Murray."

Hosted by Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet

June 2021

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

Facing Reality with Charles Murray

They asked for an honest conversation on race, right? Enter this week's guest Charles Murray, author most recently of Facing Reality: Two Truths about Race in America. He and guys jostle on this most sensitive of subjects, but do so with the kind of generosity you can only find on Ricochet (We let things be too chummy around here!) Rob, Peter and James also get into the G7 and a rudderless Biden on the world stage, along with Jon Stewart on Stephen Colbert's stage. They even do their best to find some optimism, but we may need our friends at Ricochet to cheer them up in the comments! Music from this week's podcast: Ball of Confusion by The Temptations

Hosted by James Lileks, Peter Robinson, and Rob Long

Organization:
Ricochet

March 2018

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

How Charles Murray Became Charles Murray

In this very special episode, Steve Hayward gets an origin story out of Charles Murray, surveying the sweep of his life from childhood in Iowa through Harvard, the Peace Corps in Asia, and evaluating social programs in the 1970s where his growing doubts and misgivings started him on the road to his many pathbreaking books. Along the way, Steve and Charles also talk about NASA and the Apollo program, which Charles and his wife Catherine also wrote a fine book about.

Hosted by 'Lucretia', John Yoo, and Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet