The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea (Modern Library Chronicles)

This book isn't at all bad. It provides a conscience and readable history of corporations (or "companies", as they are, somewhat oddly, called here) from the renaissance to the present. If you want a conscience and highly readable history, this is a good book for you. If you want detail or analysis, this isn't what you want. The book is written by two journalists- writers for The Economist- and it shows. The style is journalistic- it depends heavily on other people's original research, and sites it in such a way that you can't be sure what the original sources said unless you wanted to take the time to look them up. Most people won't want to. This is fine for journalism, and as an example of that, it's a high-quality production. But, if you're looking for scholarship, or something providing significant analysis, this isn't the book for you. (I'll note that in this way this book is different from some of the Modern Library Chronicles books. Some of them are, while being short and accessible, still scholarly.) I'll give an example. The authors note that at one point the function of taking a company public was to provide capital for it, but that later on it came to be the case that this wasn't so- that corporations came to finance themselves on their own profits, or by debt, or other means. They note in passing that stock came to play a rather different role than it was originally intended to play, but don't go into this in any detail. These days, stock is often used as a way to reward management, or to provide a pay-day to early insiders when a company is taken public, but is only rarely a major way to raise capital. This is a big change, perhaps one that ought to lead us to re-think the nature of corporations, and whether they should have the same legal standing and basis as when they were first really developed, in the 19th century. But you'll get no analysis of this in this book, and will likely only catch that it's happened at all if you are paying close attention. This is typical of a journalistic approach, and marks just one of its short-comings. Other examples similar to this are easy to find. (We find that styles of corporations and management change significantly over time, but are offered no real analysis as to why, for example.) So, it's not a completely satisfying book. Still, it's a useful one and enjoyable, so long as its limits are kept clearly in mind.

Simply stated, there's room for a lot more book here. Our fearless authors really have found an important slice of economic and business history that has seemingly been overlooked by most others. And what a rich field it is! The history of the company itself! What exactly is a company? Where did the idea come from? How has it evolved? Where is it going?Not only does the book tackle fertile and under-covered territory, but it's got the right authors, too. Micklethwait and Wooldridge are editors at The Economist, truly one of the most clear-headed periodicals out there. To be fair to these guys, they answer all of the questions I posed in the first paragraph and they do it in interesting style too. They bring up pertinent facts, interesting viewpoints and penetrating questions.So why not five stars?Because it barely scratches the surface of the topic it covers. You find yourself reading one thing after another that you'd like to know a lot more about, but then find yourself moving on to a new topic without having your thirst for knowledge about the last topic even mildly quenched.Perhaps that's all right. The book claims in its own title to be a short history. It can serve as a quick introduction to a number of different topics that a reader can dig into more deeply if the spirit moves them. Further, maybe this book will serve as the call for other qualified authors and historians to focus some attention on this under-covered area of economics and history.I hope it does, but this book kept leaving me wanting at least a little more on every topic it touched. Recommended, but be prepared to feel like your being rushed through a tour of a museum that you'd really like to spend some time in.Hats off to Micklethwait and Wooldridge for making one point clearly: the company is the single greatest engine of wealth (of all kinds) we have in the modern world, and that forgetting that could be tragic.

Fascinating! The invention of the company is almost an adventure story, and reflects a very high level of research and understanding by the authors, allowing them to go beyond a simple "list of events" to a coherent narrative. They're not afraid to synthesise and present critical analysis.The last half drags a little, compared to the tightly-written first two-thirds, mostly because it's too focussed on particular events in modern times. Also the book focusses on US/UK rather than the world as a whole. This latter neglect is a reasonable choice, and works well.Over all, I highly recommend this book: I don't know of any competition that approaches the well-referenced confidence that it brings to the topic.

Having been made a director of a residential management company for my houses, I wanted to know the origin and attitude of law around the matter of limited companies.

A very readable and enjoyable survey of the history of what has emerged as the world's preeminent institution - the corporation. Clears up many misconceptions and provides insights into the relationship between business, government, global development and economic prosperity.

The book delivers exactly what its title promises: it is short and it is compact and the story it tells is indeed revolutionary. Equally important, it is very well written. It is recommended to anyone interested in business, business history or history in general.

Interesantísimo libro!