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The Power Elite stands as a contemporary classic of social science and social criticism. C. Wright Mills examines and critiques the organization of power in the United States, calling attention to three firmly interlocked prongs of power: the military, corporate, and political elite. The Power Elite can be read as a good account of what was taking place in America at the time it was written, but its underlying question of whether America is as democratic in practice as it is in theory continues to matter very much today.

Table of contents

1	The Higher Circles	3
2	Local Society	30
3	Metropolitan 400	47
4	The Celebrities	71
5	The Very Rich	94
6	The Chief Executives	118
7	The Corporate Rich	147
8	The Warlords	171
9	The Military Ascendancy	198
10	The Political Directorate	225
11	The Theory of Balance	242
12	The Power Elite	269
13	The Mass Society	298
14	The Conservative Mood	325
15	The Higher Immorality	343
	Afterword	363
	Acknowledgments	382
	Notes	384
	Index	432