Weaving historical source material with his own analysis, author Beatty traces the rise of the American corporation, from its beginnings in the 17th century through today, illustrating how it has come to loom over the economy, society, culture, and politics. Through readings made up of historical and contemporary documents, opinion pieces, reportage, biographies, company histories, and scenes from literature, all introduced and explicated by Beatty, he makes a case that the American corporation has been, for good and ill, the primary maker and manager of change in modern America. From the slave trade and the transcontinental railroad to the software giants and the multimedia conglomerates, Beatty shows how the corporation emerged as the foundation of representative government in the United States, as the builder of the young nation's public works, as the conqueror of American space, and as the inexhaustible engine of economic growth from the Civil War to today.--From publisher description.