“It is not characteristic of American executives to read books, except books on 'management' and mysteries. … Those who who do venture into this arena … are looked upon by their colleagues with mingled awe and incredulity.”

Source: The Power Elite (1956), p. 130.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is not characteristic of American executives to read books, except books on 'management' and mysteries. … Those who …" by C. Wright Mills?

C. Wright Mills55

American sociologist 1916–1962

Robertson Davies book A Voice from the Attic

A Voice from the Attic (1960)

“In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue?”

Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English writer and clergyman

Referring to the lack of established culture and the established institution of slavery in the United States, in "Review of Seybert’s Annals of the United States", published in The Edinburgh Review (1820)
Context: In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book? Or goes to an American play? or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? Or what old ones have they advanced? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? Who drinks out of American glasses? Or eats from American plates? Or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow-creatures may buy and sell and torture?

“Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.”

Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer

Source: Lacon (1820) Vol. II; CCXLVIII