A most serviceable compass, timely and effective, for a time in which we are constantly told that society should be treated as just another type of business.

Fabian Muniesa, Ecole des Mines de Paris

A fresh, topical and highly engaging introduction to the vital issues surrounding the business world. There is much food for thought in this book: every student of business should read it.

Geoffrey Hodgson, author of Conceptualizing Capitalism: Institutions, Evolution, Future

The ideal user's guide to the modern world and how we got here. It untangles the thicket of politics and corporate power and gives readers cogent intellectual arguments and an inspiring message that change is possible and already happening.

Katherine Trebeck, Oxfam GB

Offers a wide ranging introductory interdisciplinary text for the study of the modern world. Rich in conceptual debate, it provides students with incisive analysis and criticism. This is the antidote to the anodyne business school textbook.

Liam Campling, Queen Mary University of London

In this tremendous text, Kean Birch and his colleagues show us why we must understand economic activity as embedded in political decisions. This book should be compulsory reading for anyone who wants to understand how another business world is possible.

Martin Parker, University of Leicester

Goes beyond conventional accounts to critically expose the complex realities of the relationship between business and society. With clarity and originality, the authors illuminate the role of business for shaping society both in the past and present.

Sara Gorgoni, University of Greenwich