Over the course of the twentieth century the popular perception of America's giant corporations has undergone an astonishing change. Condemned as dangerous leviathans in the century's first decades, by 1945 major corporations had become respected, even revered, institutions. Roland Marchand's book tells how large companies such as AT&T and U.S. Steel created their own "souls" in order to reassure consumers and politicians that their size and influence posed no threat to democracy or American values.

Marchand traces this important transformation in the culture of capitalism by offering a series of fascinating case studies of such corporate giants as General Motors, General Electric, Metropolitan Life Insurance, Du Pont Chemicals, and Ford Motors.