Levy gave away a small fortune in his lifetime, and his widow, Shelby White, through the Leon Levy Foundation continues to be extraordinarily generous, supporting many cultural and artistic enterprises.

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The Alabama dispute is from Shelby County, a largely white suburb of Birmingham.

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Mr. Mamet rattles off the works that affected him most: "White Guilt" by Shelby Steele, "Ethnic America" by Thomas Sowell, "The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War" by Wilfred Trotter, "The Road to Serfdom" by Friedrich Hayek, "Capitalism and Freedom" by Milton Friedman, and "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill.

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