author
Broadus Mitchell
1892–1988
A historian and economist with a strong public voice, he wrote widely on American history and industry while also stepping directly into politics. His life joined scholarship, social reform, and a long-running interest in how economic change shaped the nation.
1 Audiobook
The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South
by Broadus Mitchell
About the author
Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1892, Broadus Mitchell became an American historian, writer, and teacher whose work often focused on economic history and the development of the South. He taught economics and history at several universities, including Johns Hopkins, Occidental, New York University, Rutgers, and Hofstra, and built a reputation as a clear, energetic interpreter of American industrial and political life.
Mitchell wrote many books, among them studies of the South's industrial growth and a major multivolume biography of Alexander Hamilton. His interests reached well beyond the classroom: he was active in public causes, supported civil liberties and social justice efforts, and in 1934 ran for governor of Maryland as the Socialist Party candidate.
He died in 1988 at the age of 95. Remembered as both a scholar and an engaged citizen, he left behind work that connected economics, history, and public life in a way that still feels lively and human.