Each of these companies blurred the line between corporation and state, taking on certain roles of civil government over its employees, customers, and native peoples and settlers within their domains.

The men who ran them operated with impunity, far from the oversight and control of their home countries' governments and their companies' directors (many of whom never set foot on the territories whose commerce they profited from).

[1] These men, often from humble beginnings, grew fantastically wealthy and powerful through the activities of their companies, while serving as quasi-official representatives of their home government—roles which were often at odds.

His focus on individuals means that the book deals with the companies themselves in only the most glancing way, and what analysis he offers is less than eye-opening...The ideal reader of Merchant Kings would appear to be an eighth-grade boy.

"[1] However, The Globe and Mail praised the book as an "ingenious" distillation of multinational history, and noted that "though Bown focuses on individuals, he does not leave states and companies to plead innocence.