The Mind of Oliver C. Cox (African American Intellectual Heritage Series)

Born in Trinidad in 1901, Oliver Cromwell Cox emigrated to the United States in 1919, where he remained until his death in 1974. After earning advanced degrees in economics and sociology from the University of Chicago, Cox established himself as an impressive, but controversial, sociologist. His best-known work, Caste, Class, and Race (1948), was the first of five books that Cox would publish. In spite of his numerous scholarly contributions in the areas of social theory, political economy, and historical sociology, Cox’s importance for the study of African American history has remained relatively unacknowledged in recent decades. In this intellectual biography, Christopher A. McAuley provides a welcome new assessment of Cox’s life and work.