The politics of truth: selected writings of C. Wright Mills

309 Pages·2008·1.53 MB·English

by  Charles Wright Mills

The Politics of Truth
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R
The Politics of Truth
selected and
introduced by
Selected Writings of
johnh.summers
C. Wright Mills
1
2008
1
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Mills,C.Wright(CharlesWright),1916–1962.
Thepoliticsoftruth:selectedwritingsofC.WrightMills
/selectedandintroducedbyJohnH.Summers.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-19-534305-2(hardcover)—ISBN978-0-19-534304-5(pbk.)
1. Socialsciences. 1. Summers,John,1971—. II. Title.
H83.M4932008 301.092—dc22
[B] 2008011427
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
For Roy Rosenzweig
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acknowledgments
I am grateful to Richard Gillam, Kathryn Mills, Nikolas Mills, Pamela
Mills, George Scialabba, and Anna Summers for advice and assistance. All
writings are reprinted by permission of the Estate of C. Wright Mills.
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preface
C. Wright Mills was the most famous American sociologist in the world
when he died on March 20, 1962. Yet no biography worth reading has
appeared in the four decades since then, nor has a reliable apparatus of
scholarshipmaturedaroundhiswritingstoguidecommentaryonhislegacy.
Thisisthefirstnewcollectionsince1963;itisonlythesecondcollectionto
appear in English.
The possibilities are as abundant as the collection is necessary. Mills’s
contemporariesknewhimastheauthoroflongbooks,butalsoasanaphorist,
essayist, reviewer, pamphleteer, and public lecturer. ‘‘Books,’’ he once
commented, ‘‘are simply organized releases from the continuous work that
goes into them.’’ The complete bibliography of his published writings runs
to more than 200 entries. Add the unpublished writings from his ‘‘contin-
uous work’’ and it runs past 350 entries.
Of the essays, interviews, speeches, and public letters selected for this
collection,MillspublishedallbutoneinperiodicalssuchasDissent,Evergreen
Review,Harper’s,TheNation,NewLeftReview,SaturdayReview,andpolitics.He
wrote them for liberally educated, politically aware readers in Europe and
America. The same intention accompanies their republication.
Whatismissing?In1947,Millsdrewupaproposalforacollectionofhis
writings and titled it The Politics of Truth, and Other Essays. His proposal
included four technical essays in the sociology of knowledge: ‘‘Language,
Logic, and Culture’’ (1939); ‘‘Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive’’
(1940); ‘‘Methodological Consequences of the Sociology of Knowledge’’
(1940);and‘‘TheProfessionalIdeologyofSocialPathologists’’(1943).These
essayswouldhavebeenincludedherebutfortheiravailabilityindigitalform