The Sovereign State
ISBN 0-340-17195-2 | | |
The Sovereign State: The Secret History of International Telephone and Telegraph is a non-fiction book by
In some editions it was sold under the title of The Sovereign State of ITT.
Plot
In part, it was a portrait of Harold Geneen, the chief executive of ITT from 1959 until 1977. Geneen was a legendarily hands-on manager, who believed it necessary to penetrate through layers of "false facts" to get to the "unshakable facts" about any of the markets or divisions of his conglomerate. In terms of its broader themes, though, this book was one of a spate of early-70s books that promoted the thesis that multinational corporations were taking over the traditional prerogatives and functions of national governments.
In a review of Sampson's book in the
Although as Sampson's book shows ITT has used other means of redress to defend its own business interests from nationalisation, that have not been confined to the courts. These have ranged from supporting the 1930s military takeover by
Official information
- Sampson, Anthony (1973). The Sovereign State: The Secret History of ITT. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-17195-2.
- Stein and Day, US publisher (1973)