Taming the Octopus: The Long Battle for the Soul of the Corporation

Williams, senior editor of the Hedgehog Review, debuts with a sharp study of the struggle to hold corporations accountable in the 20th century. Focusing on the politicians, economists, and activists involved, Williams tells how aggressive advocacy from lawyer Adolf Berle, a member of FDR’s “Brain Trust,” helped secure the 1934 establishment of the Securities Exchange Act, which “brought more specialized professional standards” to the New York stock exchange. New Deal regulation, Williams notes, came under intense scrutiny in the latter half of the 20th century from such conservative economists as Henry Manne, who argued that corporations should pursue profit without regard for “mutual fairness and individual morality.” Williams’s thought-provoking analysis pushes back against the notion that corporations are not public institutions, highlighting how grassroots accountability campaigns—including the 1950s push for Kodak to start a job-training program for Black workers, who were severely underrepresented at the company—“harkened back to an older view” of corporations as “concessions of state power created for the good of society.” The fascinating history also presents glimpses into legislative roads not taken, such as an abandoned 1907 proposal championed by Theodore Roosevelt that would have granted the federal government a direct role in the administration of private companies. The result is a riveting look at corporations’ ever-shifting role in American society. (Feb.)