C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings (Daniel Bell's book with his notes)

Edited by Kathyrn Mills with Pamela Mills; Introduction by Dan Wakefield

ISBN 10: 0520211065 / ISBN 13: 9780520211063

Published by University Of California Press, Berkeley, 2000

About this Item

First Edition (Number Line to 1). This was Daniel Bell's book. Daniel Bell and C. Wright Mills had a relationship between the early 40s and 1945 which ended due to a growing divide in the two sociologists political thinking (although Bell, in some penned notes on the blank rear end paper, cites the 'messy divorce from Freya and the court action' as the reason for the break). Dr. Bell did later write a short essay titled Vulgar Sociology: On C. Wright Mills and the 'Letter to the New Left'. But in early 1945 Bell had helped the Millses obtain an apartment on E. 11th St. in Manhattan in the same building in which the Bells resided. Included in the book is a receipt from amazon for the sale of the book to Dr. Bell. It was sent to his PO Box in Chilmark, Massachusetts in the year 2000. In the Acknowledgments section of the book Bell, along with a number of others, is thanked for providing copies of letters from his/their private collection. Bell is referenced on a number of pages. He also introduced Mills to Dwight Macdonald who is referenced on a number of pages. Daniel Bell didn't make too many markings in the book, in total 20 or so, lines at the margin of paragraphs and in some instances a few words or sentences beside them. As noted, he also made some comments on the rear blank end paper. Above them he underlined 'Bell + Mills.' The condition of the book, happily, doesn't require much verbiage. The covers are exceptionally clean. The gilt lettering on the spine very bright. The edges and corners are in excellent shape. The pages of perfectly clean. The book is very solidly bound from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout and nicely tight covers as well (at the juncture between the blank side of the half-title page and the title page a little of the paper has very slightly lifted up, nothing significant). The pages are in excellent shape, exceptionally clean, bright and free of creasing. There are no attachments, no stampings or markings. There is no other writing other than Dr. Bell's. You can see the dust jacket in the first few photos. It is quite clean. There is a little bit of the clouding you often see on black surfaces as well as the vague white vertical lines that trace the change in the texture of the book. There are no tears. The flaps are in excellent shape. The jacket is not priced or clipped. From the dust jacket: 'A fiercely independent thinker with an ego as large as his vision, the 'angry sociologist' could also be self-critical, exuberant, lyrical, warm and humorous. Mills was a colorful, energetic letter writer; he discussed everything from politics, sociology, and the craft of writing, to motorcycles, house building, and his love life. With vivid immediacy and Millsian intensity, this volume charts his journey from Waco, Texas to New York City and his professorship at Columbia College, from political discussions in Greenwich Village to interviews with intellectual dissidents in Eastern Europe and the newly empowered revolutionaries in Cuba. Mills's letters to prominent figures-- including Saul Alinsky, Daniel Bell, Lewis Coser, Carlos Fuentes, Hans Gerth, Irving Howe, Dwight Macdonald, Robert K. Merton, Ralph Miliband, William Miller, David Reisman, and Harvey Swados-- are joined by his letters to family members, letter-essays to an imaginary friend in Russia, personal narratives by his daughters, and annotations drawing on published and unpublished material, including the FBI file on Mills. In a multifaceted and eloquent introduction to this collection, Dan Wakefield discusses his memories of Mills as well as the impact of Mills's work.'.

Seller Inventory # 004393

Bibliographic Details

• Title: C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings (Daniel Bell's book with his notes)
• Publisher: University Of California Press, Berkeley
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520211065
• ISBN 13: 9780520211063
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • One-Of-A-Kind
  • Crème de la crème
  • Sociology

About this title

Synopsis

One of the leading public intellectuals of twentieth-century America and a pioneering and brilliant social scientist, C. Wright Mills left a legacy of interdisciplinary and hard-hitting work including two books that changed the way many people viewed their lives and the structure of power in the "United States: White Collar" (1951) and "The Power Elite" (1956). Mills persistently challenged the status quo within his profession - as in "The Sociological Imagination" (1959) - and within his country, until his untimely death in 1962.This collection of letters and writings, edited by his daughters, allows readers to see behind Mills' public persona for the first time. Mills' letters to prominent figures - including Saul Alinsky, Daniel Bell, Lewis Coser, Carlos Fuentes, Hans Gerth, Irving Howe, Dwight MacDonald, Robert K. Merton, Ralph Miliband, William Miller, David Riesman, and Harvey Swados - are joined by his letters to family members, letter-essays to an imaginary friend in Russia, personal narratives by his daughters, and annotations drawing on published and unpublished material, including the FBI file on Mills.

About the Author

C. Wright Mills was a maverick social scientist who taught in Copenhagen, London, and Mexico City in addition to the United States. His work has been translated into twenty-three languages. Kathryn Mills works for a book publisher in Boston. Pamela Mills teaches American literature and composition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dan Wakefield is the author of New York in the Fifties (1992), which is the basis for a documentary film, Island in the City: The World of Spanish Harlem (1959), and many other works, including the best-selling novels Going All the Way (1970) and Selling Out (1985).