This volume showcases the most exciting new voices in the fields of business and political history. While the media frequently warns of the newfound power of business in the world of politics, the authors in this book demonstrate that business has mobilized to shape public policy and government institutions, as well as electoral outcomes, for decades. Rather than assuming that business influence is inevitable, the chapters explore the complex evolution of this relationship in a wide range of different arenas--from attempts to create a corporate-friendly tax policy and regulations that would work in the interests of particular industries, to local boosterism as a weapon against New Deal liberalism, to the nexus between evangelical Christianity and the oil industry, to the frustrations that business people felt in struggles with public interest groups. The history that emerges show business actors organizing themselves to affect government in myriad ways, sometimes successfully but other times with outcomes far different than they hoped for. The result in an image of American politics that is more complex and contested than it is often thought to be. The essays represent a new trend in scholarship on political economy, one that seeks to break down the barriers that once separated old subfields to offer a vision of the economy as shaped by politics and political life influenced by economic relationships.

About the Author
Kim Phillips-Fein is an Assistant Professor at the Gallatin School of NYU and is the author of Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan. Julian E. Zelizer is Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton. He is numerous books, including Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security - From World War II to the War on Terrorism and Governing America: The Revival of Political History.

Reviews
These 12 thoughtful, engaging essays examine the numerous and complex way that business leaders sought to influence politics in the post-WWII period and prompt deeper research onthe political economy. Highly Recommended. * CHOICE *
This excellent volume collects the work of a dozen scholars, indicating that we are in the midst of a renaissance of business history, with a new focus on integrating detailed study of business practice with other major aspects of American history. * James Hoopes, Journal of American History *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199754014
Author Kim Phillips-Fein
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 607g
Dimensions(mm) 163mm * 239mm * 20mm