Americans have long been skeptical of corporations, and that skepticism has only grown more intense in recent years. Meanwhile, corporations continue to amass wealth and power at a dizzying rate, recklessly pursuing profit while leaving society to sort out the costs. In For Profit, law professor William Magnuson argues that the story of the corporation didn't have to come to this.
These days, both Democrats and Republicans—goaded by the controversies surrounding high tech and by other familiar objections to corporate conduct—seem to revile corporations. For Profit shows why this is so but also, more importantly, why we should appreciate corporations more than we do.
Magnuson’s argument is a difficult one to make at a moment when popular faith in corporations is flagging ... The chapters are entertaining and richly detailed historical accounts, and they also serve as allegories for Magnuson’s story about corporations’ abandonment of their founding purpose ... Where Magnuson errs is that corporations are not just disinclined to follow these rules but are structurally incentivized to break them.
An in-depth examination ... While enlightening and captivating, it is not a quick reference. Magnuson provides plenty of history and detail for each theme and enterprise, sometimes painstakingly so ... He is able to weave each [profile] together.
