Jerry Davis is the Wilbur K. Pierpont Collegiate Professor of Management at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Davis received his PhD from Stanford University and has previously taught at Northwestern University and Columbia University. He has published widely in management, sociology, and finance. Recent books include Social Movements and Organization Theory (with Doug McAdam, W. Richard Scott, and Mayer N. Zald; Cambridge University Press, 2005) and Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural, and Open System Perspectives (with W. Richard Scott; Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007). He is currently Associate Editor of Administrative Science Quarterly and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Organization Studies (ICOS) at the University of Michigan.

• Preface ; 1. The New Financial Capitalism ; 2. Financial Markets and Corporate Governance ; 3. From Institution to Nexus: How the Corporation Got, then Lost, its Soul ; 4. From Banks to Markets: How Securitization Ended the "Wonderful Life" ; 5. From Sovereign to Vendor-State: How Delaware and Liberia Became the McDonalds and Nike of Corporate Law ; 6. From Employee and Citizen to Investor: How Talent, Friends, and Homes Became "capital" ; 7. Conclusion: A Society of Investors?

a valuable, timely and gripping analysis by Gerald F. Davis... Davis's book should be required reading for anyone, whether academic, practitioner, or policy maker, who needs to think critically about finance which, rather than a mechanistic set of transactions, is presented in the book as a social phenomenon that is invading our lives.