c.wright mills was a radical public intellectual,a tough-talking,motorcycle-riding anarch**t from texas who taught sociology at columbia university.mills's three most influential books-the power elite,white collar,and the sociological imagination-were originally publ**hed by oup and are considered classics.the first collection of h** writings to be publ**hed since 1963,the politics of truth contains 23 out-of-print and hard-to-find writings which show h** growth from academic sociolog**t to an intellectual maestro in command of a mature style,a d**senter who sought to inspire the public to oppose the drift toward permanent war.given the political deceptions of recent years,mills's truth-telling ** relevant than ever.seminal **s including"letter to the new left"appear alongside lesser known meditations such as"are we losing our sense of belonging?john summers provides fresh insights in h** introduction,which gives an overview of mills's life and career.summers has also written annotations that establ**h each piece's context and has drawn up a comprehensive bibliography of mills's publ**hed and unpubl**hed writings.
choosing from the plethora of mills's publications ** no easy task.summers has handled th** chore w**ely,rejecting a handy potpourri in f**or of concentrating on what mills had to say about a particular problem:the role at intellectuals should play in contemporary society."-the new republic
many of these essays.retain their capacity to **rm,instruct,and occasionally even incite.there **nt a false note in the bunch."-the american conservative
john summers has done yeoman work to give these essays and lectures of mills the resurrection they richly deserve.the politics of truth shows beautifully why mills was,and remains,inspiring:because he confronted big questions and showed that intellectual work was both an adventure and a moral imperative.a splendid book."-todd gitlin,columbia university
half provocateur and half sociolog**t,c.wright mills cuts a wide swathe through the 1950s and early 60s.but it ** now than ever that we need th** coruscating foe of cant and complacency.mills addresses a world as old as today's war and tomorrow's industrialized passivity.read him!russell jacoby,author of the last intellectuals
the collection sheds much light on the man who wrote these classics.it stands as a valuable reference and supplement to the life work of a brilliant and daring american intellectual who died too young.whether you agree or d**agree with mills,the work and the man can provide valuable lessons on what ** truly important to us and challenge us to determine for ourselves where each of us should stand in our present epoch."-the epoch times
under-studied but profoundly influential intellectual of the 20th century.no grand theories,or metaphysical insights,c.wright mills just tells it like it **.th** new volume of letters,speeches,articles,and interviews ** a terrific addition to wright's d**tingu**hed publ**hing record.
summers includes a short introductory essay on mills which ** mostly biographical.beyond that,i found h** polemics against daniel bell's"end of ideology"and tribute to thorstein veblen most insightful.throughout the essays,mills explores some of h** familiar sociological insights including 'crackpot real**m','power elite',and 'cheerful robots'.what ** not appreciated as much i believe ** mills's foresight in the"new left"h**ing seen how both the totalitarian**m of stalin**t commun**m d**torted marx**t orthodoxy and how liberal capital**m had peaked with the high-modernity of the 1950s.
i think what most people will enjoy most about mills and th** collection of unpubl**hed documents ** how colloquially mills writes.none of the postmodern pretension and hi**row academic jargon you would read from a sociology text today,and mills's insights are still as valid today as when he wrote them which ** saying a lot.definitely a must read.