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The Continuing Relevance Of C. Wright Mills: His Approach To Research And What We Can Learn From It, John E. Miller

Studies in Midwestern History

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), remembered primarily for his 1956 book, The Power Elite, and for his 1960 essay “Letter to the New Left,” which helped launch the rising New Left in the America of the 1960s, was a major American sociologist, but he also had much to teach historians. Although he focused his research on national and global subjects, students and scholars of regionalism can also learn much from his wide-ranging, critical approach. Like all good sociologists, Mills always assumed that historical context was an essential element of any adequate analysis of society, economics, and politics. Born in Texas, …

'Just Call Me Bill': William Taft Brings Spectacle Politics To The Midwest, Jeffrey Bourdon

Studies in Midwestern History

Historians long rated William Howard Taft’s campaigning ability during the 1908 presidential contest as below average and in need of Theodore Roosevelt’s resuscitation. Recently, they have given Taft more credit for his electioneering appearances. Taft’s ability to teach out to voters was vital to his candidacy because he ran at a time in American political history when the ability to deliver charismatic speeches and shake hands was put at a premium by larger-than-life candidates such as Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and Eugene Debs.

Taft toured several regions during the campaign, including the Midwest, the South, the Mid-Atlantic, and New England. …