SOME time ago I received a letter from a friend of mine, a political scientist who is an author of one of the best-selling introductory textbooks on American government. He and his co-authors were preparing a revised edition, and they wondered if I would be willing to review the chapters on government regulation of business in light of the reporting and writing I had done on the subject for Fortune magazine. After a certain amount of haggling over the fee- in practice, the authors’ liberality with other people’s money (in this ease the publisher’s) was not what one would have guessed from their political views—I accepted. Shortly thereafter the book arrived, and, curious as to what it would have to say, I immediately opened it and started to read.