This entry reexamines the substance and the implication of the 1994 Herrnstein Murray book on the bell curve. Widely interpreted as inimical to the interests of the United States' black community, a closer inspection of the book shows that its statics do not have these implications. And, more generally, closer scrutiny indicates that the sorts of bell curve discrepancies among communities will in the very nature of things lack the sort of policy bearing commonly imputed to this book.