The Stories Corporations Tell
Two new histories of American capitalism reveal how alluring narratives have nurtured corporate power.
Yesterday, The American Prospect published my latest article, “The Stories Corporations Tell,” a review of two new books that help explain how capitalism in America became… capitalism in America.
The first book, Taming the Octopus: The Long Battle for the Soul of the Corporation,1 is by University of Virginia historian Kyle Edward Williams. The second, One Day I’ll Work for Myself: The Dream and Delusion That Conquered America,2 comes from UNC-Chapel Hill historian Benjamin C. Waterhouse.
As my review concludes:
The history that Williams documents in Taming the Octopus is distinct from what Waterhouse takes on in One Day I’ll Work for Myself, but the authors’ arguments are more than complementary. Together they reveal that what corporations are against has proven far more insidious, and far more consistent, than what they claim to be for.
Whether corporations promise to solve the world’s problems themselves or promise that America will thrive when you solve them on your own, what never changes is their aversion to worker power and the democratic process—the only forces capable of nudging American capitalism in a fairer, more equitable, and less precarious direction.
While that sounds bleak (like much of what I write these days), I believe the underlying lesson of these two books is a hopeful one: It doesn’t have to be this way.
You can read the full story here: “The Stories Corporations Tell.” Thanks to David Dayen, Ryan Cooper, and the team at The American Prospect.
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393867237
https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393868210