It has become a truism in politics that "corporations have become too powerful". Few people understand, however, that there has been a vast shift in global power between 1990 and 2010; corporate power has now exceeded national power and global economic structures now have unchecked control over democratic governments. Power has passed to multi-national corporations who have no country, owe allegiance to no government, and answer to no nation. They have become supra-national. This book is a history of corporations, as they grew from small tightly-controlled public works to huge quasi-governmental behemoths who now have literal veto power over elected national governments.