GANGS OF AMERICA

Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy, Ted Nace, Berrett Koehler, 2005

Book Description

Series: Bk Currents | Publication Date: September 1, 2005

From its roots in 17th-century Britain to its modern incarnation in Enron and WorldCom, the modern corporation -- restless, autonomous, and self-perpetuating -- has gained potency. Designed to seek profit and power, the corporation has pursued both objectives with endless tenacity, steadily bending the framework of the law and incurring destruction in its path. Where did the corporation come from? How did it get so much power? What is its ultimate trajectory? Considering the importance of such questions, it is surprisingly difficult to find answers.
Using cutting-edge research from academic historians, sociologists, political scientists, and legal scholars, "Gangs of America attempts to answer these questions in a unique, riveting narrative. The book recounts the settlement of America by corporations, details the surprising impetus for the Revolutionary War, then traces the expansion of corporate rights onto the global stage -- culminating in an assessment of current struggles over such issues as media control and campaign finance reform. Part of the "BK Currents series, the book promotes positive social change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nace nurtured Peachpit Press from a home-based operation, writing and publishing computer guides, to a business worthy of acquisition by the Pearson conglomerate. The experience inspired him to study the nature of corporate power. He offers a breezy summary of the legal history surrounding the formation of corporations and the parameters of their power, putting an anti-corporate spin on the American Revolution and discussing how the early republic limited corporate power by enabling state governments to issue restrictive charters. But the tight controls didn't remain in place: after the Supreme Court's decision in an 1886 case involving the Santa Clara Railroad, corporations were assumed to be the legal equivalent of people entitled to equal protection under the law and, in subsequent cases, were guaranteed a growing range of constitutional rights. One of Nace's central arguments is that Santa Clara doesn't mean what everybody thinks it means: the original decision doesn't take any stand on whether corporations have constitutional rights; the question comes up in a subsequent version of the decision, but the Chief Justice acts as if it had been resolved in earlier decisions. Although Nace blames the Court's reporter for the shift in emphasis, he illustrates how another justice, Stephen Field, was already buttressing politicians' and financial titans' efforts to eliminate all restraints on corporate power, making their legal supremacy inevitable. Later chapters examine how corporations continue to wield their influence to prevent the government from regulating them too closely, but while the book offers plenty of details about the problem's existence and deftly introduces it, it offers little more than generalities about where to go from there.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"... a joy to read ... clear, straight-forward, and very accessible ... one of those books that can awaken people's consciousness..." -- Corporate Reform Weekly, September 8, 2003

"... an engaging history ... provocative and entertaining ... a surprising and welcome achievement ... lively insights and refreshing research." -- New York Times, September 14, 2003

"... entertaining and sometimes arresting ... the book is a lively read and Nace is an interesting companion." -- New Leader, July/August 2003

"...a wonderfully informative story ... I can't tell you how important and timely this book is." -- Business Journal, September 26, 2003 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Ted Nace is an author, entrepreneur, and activist. He has embarked on a personal exploration into the historical origins of the American corporation, seeking to integrate his experiences as both activist and businessman. This book is the result of that exploration.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From its roots in seventeenth-century Britain to its modern incarnation in Enron and WorldCom, the modern corporation--restless, autonomous, and self-perpetuating--has steadily gained potency. Designed to seek profit and power, the corporation has pursued both with endless tenacity, steadily bending the framework of law and even challenging the sovereign status of the state. Where did the corporation come from? How did it get so much power? What is its ultimate trajectory? Considering the importance of such questions, it is surprisingly difficult to find answers.

Gangs of America fills the gap with a series of compelling stories, each organized around a different facet of the central question: "How did corporations get so much power?" The book begins by recounting the rise of massive British trading corporations in the sixteenth century and the settlement of America by corporations such as the Virginia Company. It describes how resistance by American businessmen against the British East India Company sparked the Revolutionary War and recounts the home-grown charter system created in the fledgling United States to contain corporate power. It then recounts how that system was undermined and destroyed by men such as Tom Scott, an obscure railroad baron who once controlled 20 state legislatures.
The book pays special attention to the critical decades that followed the Civil War, describing in detail the intrigues surrounding the corporate acquisition of Constitutional "personhood." Moving into the twentieth century, it traces the steady expansion of corporate rights onto the global stage, including the political mobilization of big business during the final decades of the twentieth century, led by figures such as Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. The book closes with an assessment of current struggles over such issues as media control and campaign finance reform.
Special resources include:
ß Numerous unique tables and charts, providing a wealth of detailed legal and structural information on the corporate form
ß An appendix summarizing dozens of key Supreme Court decisions
Rather than being written in sterile, academic jargon, the book is highly readable, flowing naturally out of the author’s own questions as a businessman and an activist. Gangs of America combines cutting-edge research from academic historians, sociologists, political scientists, and legal scholars into a unique narrative that rivets the reader's attention.