O'Kelley reviews Lamoreaux & Novak, "Corporations and American Democracy"

Writing for JOTWELL's Corporate Law section, Charles O'Kelley (Seattle University School of Law) has posted an admiring review of Corporations and American Democracy (Harvard University Press), edited by Naomi R. Lamoreaux (Yale University) and William J. Novak (University of Michigan Law School). Here's a taste:

Lamoreaux & Novak contains the work of 16 scholars, organized as an introductory essay and ten chapters, which together provide a coherent and enlightening look at the nature of the corporation and corporate law from the founding of America to the present. At the same time, Lamoreaux & Novak also provides a provocative look at the nature of democracy, viewed in the context of the nation’s ongoing struggle over the proper relationship between corporations and government. Whether your interest lies in better understanding the corporation at the turn of the 19th century, in the early stages of the industrial revolution, during the pre-first-World-War reform era, in the early days of the New Deal, or as the corporation later evolved, Lamoreaux & Novak has something for you. For me, the highlight was Chapters 2 and 3, which provide a much needed clarification of the standard account of our understanding of the corporation as it evolved in the nineteenth century.

Read on here.