Radical Ambition

by Geary, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780520258365
• ISBN10: 0520258363
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-14
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Sociologist, social critic, and political radical C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) was one of the leading public intellectuals in twentieth century America. Offering an important new understanding of Mills and the times in which he lived,Radical Ambitionchallenges the captivating caricature that has prevailed of him as a lone rebel critic of 1950s complacency. Instead, it places Mills within broader trends in American politics, thought, and culture. Indeed, Daniel Geary reveals that Mills shared key assumptions about American society even with those liberal intellectuals who were his primary opponents. The book also sets Mills firmly within the history of American sociology and traces his political trajectory from committed supporter of the Old Left labor movement to influential herald of an international New Left. More than just a biography,Radical Ambitionilluminates the career of a brilliant thinker whose life and works illustrate both the promise and the dilemmas of left-wing social thought in the United States.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Maverick on a Motorcycle? The Thought and Times of C. Wright Mills	p. 1
Student Ambitions: The Education of a Social Scientist	p. 14
What Is Happening in the World Today: Weberian Sociology and Radical Political Analysis	p. 45
The Union of the Power and the Intellect: The Labor Movement and Bureau-Driven Social Research	p. 74
The New Little Men: 'White Collar'	p. 106
The Politics of Truth: 'The Power Elite' and 'The Sociological Imagination'	p. 143
Worldly Ambitions: The Emergence of a Global New Left	p. 179
Epilogue: The Legacy of C. Wright Mills	p. 216
Notes	p. 221
Index	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.