Overview

"Business is routinely dismissed as soulless, valueless and rapacious. This book argues against this by saying that business not only creates social connections, lifts its participants out of poverty, and builds the foundations for democracy, but can and must be morally uplifting. Novak defends business executives and provides a philosophy to guide their thinking. He presents their key moral ideas, including the creation of the idea of progress, and attempts to show how the moral risk of materialism can be countered by a cultivation of natural virtue. The author's previous titles include ""The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism"" and ""Belief and Unbelief""."

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"Dan Quayle A career in business can be entirely consistent with high standards and serious moral purpose, if only the right path is followed. Michael Novak, one of America's wise men, reveals what that path might be. This book is exceptional and timely. Os Guinnes Senior Fellow, the Trinity Forum Rich, wise, and illuminating, Novak's essay simultaneously rehumanizes capitalism and remoralizes business -- an immense and timely contribution to our much-needed Western renaissance. Richard L. Lawson President and CEO, National Mining Association Michael Novak has penned a masterpiece. ""Business as a Calling"" is a must-read for everyone interested in capitalism, American style. From student to CEO; employee to major stockholder; government bureaucrat to politician -- all will find something to enjoy and profit from. William E. Simon Former Secretary of the Treasury Michael Novak is our finest -- and wisest -- writer on the intricate interplay between religion and economics in American life. His new book, ""Business as a Calling, "" breaks new ground by understanding business as a vocation with its own spiritual requirements. His book deepens our understanding of the religious dimensions of business life, and it also makes us aware once more of the pervasive influence of spiritual issues in a society which, on the surface, seems obsessed with material things. Michael Novak, as always, teaches us to think about old subjects in new and creative ways. Dan QuayleA career in business can be entirely consistent with high standards and serious moral purpose, if only the right path is followed. Michael Novak, one of America's wise men, reveals what that path might be. This book is exceptional and timely. Irving KristolThis is easily the best book ever written on business as a vocation from a religious point of view. It is both thoughtful, and practical, a rare combination. Os GuinnesSenior Fellow, the Trinity ForumRich, wise, and illuminating, Novak's essay simultaneously rehumanizes capitalism and remoralizes business -- an immense and timely contribution to our much-needed Western renaissance. Richard L. LawsonPresident and CEO, National Mining AssociationMichael Novak has penned a masterpiece. ""Business as a Calling"" is a must-read for everyone interested in capitalism, American style. From student to CEO; employee to major stockholder; government bureaucrat to politician -- all will find something to enjoy and profit from. William E. SimonFormer Secretary of the TreasuryMichael Novak is our finest -- and wisest -- writer on the intricate interplay between religion and economics in American life. His new book, ""Business as a Calling,"" breaks new ground by understanding business as a vocation with its own spiritual requirements. His book deepens our understanding of the religious dimensions of business life, and it also makes us aware once more of the pervasive influence of spiritual issues in a society which, on the surface, seems obsessed with material things. Michael Novak, as always, teaches us to think about old subjects in new and creative ways. Irving Kristol This is easily the best book ever written on business as a vocation from a religious point of view. It is both thoughtful, and practical, a rare combination. Dan QuayleA career in business can be entirely consistent with high standards and serious moral purpose, if only the right path is followed. Michael Novak, one of America's wise men, reveals what that path might be. This book is exceptional and timely. Irving KristolThis is easily the best book ever written on business as a vocation from a religious point of view. It is both thoughtful, and practical, a rare combination. Os GuinnesSenior Fellow, the Trinity Forum Rich, wise, and illuminating, Novak's essay simultaneously rehumanizes capitalism and remoralizes business -- an immense and timely contribution to our much-needed Western renaissance. Richard L. LawsonPresident and CEO, National Mining Association Michael Novak has penned a masterpiece. ""Business as a Calling"" is a must-read for everyone interested in capitalism, American style. From student to CEO; employee to major stockholder; government bureaucrat to politician -- all will find something to enjoy and profit from. William E. SimonFormer Secretary of the Treasury Michael Novak is our finest -- and wisest -- writer on the intricate interplay between religion and economics in American life. His new book, ""Business as a Calling,"" breaks new ground by understanding business as a vocation with its own spiritual requirements. His book deepens our understanding of the religious dimensions of business life, and it also makes us aware once more of the pervasive influence of spiritual issues in a society which, on the surface, seems obsessed with material things. Michael Novak, as always, teaches us to think about old subjects in new and creative ways."

A spirited defense of commerce as a worthy career and of democratic capitalism as the best socioeconomic system among known alternatives. Like John M. Hood (The Heroic Enterprise, page 504), Novak (The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1992, etc.) finds much to admire. Indeed, he argues that business has a vested interest in goodness if only because it cannot advance in the absence of such cardinal virtues as cooperation, courage, honesty, industry, innovation, practicality, and realism. The author goes on to document the many ways in which for-profit concerns benefit host communities and the wider world simply by measuring up to their basic obligations - creating new jobs, earning appropriate returns on investments, producing wealth, promoting respect for the rule of law, satisfying customers, et al. He also notes ways in which trade unions might play more constructive roles in an era of corporate downsizing, e.g., by organizing labor collectives to offer pools of skilled contract workers to employers. Novak (a sometime seminarian who makes no secret of his Roman Catholic faith) is at pains to couch his message in ecumenical rather than ecclesiastic terms. To this end, he dwells on studies indicating that, among America's elites, businesspeople trail only the clergy and military officers in the degree of their religiosity. While the author cites the achievements of a wealth of entrepreneurs and executives, moreover, he singles out Andrew Carnegie for extended attention as a sort of secular saint. In particular, Novak is fascinated by the emigre industrialist's resolve to give away all his riches before he died. The author devotes the best part of his concluding chapter to this largesse and what he believes are the lessons to be learned from it. Vocational counseling of an unusual order, as tough-minded as it is good-hearted. (Kirkus Reviews)

William E. SimonFormer Secretary of the TreasuryMichael Novak is our finest -- and wisest -- writer on the intricate interplay between religion and economics in American life. His new book, Business as a Calling, breaks new ground by understanding business as a vocation with its own spiritual requirements. His book deepens our understanding of the religious dimensions of business life, and it also makes us aware once more of the pervasive influence of spiritual issues in a society which, on the surface, seems obsessed with material things. Michael Novak, as always, teaches us to think about old subjects in new and creative ways.

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