Introduction

Once again, with Volume 13, Number 4, your editorial team has brought a year’s worth of Enterprise and Society to a close. The December number conforms again to our classic layout, opening with the BHC Presidential Address by Professor Margaret Levenstein of Michigan. You may remember that the 2011 Address did not appear until March of this year, due to unusual complications. We are now back to standard practice. Then follow four dissertation summaries, drawn from the annual Krooss Prize competition. The 2012 group consists of Drs. Christy Chapin, Xaq Frolich, Noam Maggor, and Alexia Yates. The “regular” articles follow. Wendy Woloson dissects nineteenth century North American premium schemes; Tore Olsson unpeels Vidalia onions’ role in global agribusiness; and Rachel Maines analyses rhetoric and reality in asbestos liability litigation. Alert readers may have noted that our September issue was sent forth without including book reviews. We do apologize for this; summer vacation schedules did not match submission due dates for OUP. Thus all delayed reviews plus a bundle of new ones will conclude this issue.

Another note worth sharing with our readership is that the BHC has commenced the search process for the next Editor-in-Chief, as my second term guiding E&S will close with our final issue of 2014 (Volume 15). The transition process is complex, so it is wise that the work begins two years in advance. Anyone who might consider assuming the helm of this sturdy ship should get in touch with Prof. Al Churella, the search committee chair, at: achurell@spsu.edu, in order to learn about procedures, deadlines, et al. For additional information, interested parties may also contact BHC Secretary-Treasurer Roger Horowitz (rhorowitz@hagley.org) or me (scranton@camden.rutgers.edu). I will say that it continues to be a great privilege to serve as this quarterly’s editor, for it is a remarkable learning experience, though, yes, it demands a good deal of not-always-simple work.

At this point, I wish to thank our Editorial Board members for their continuing support and for their rapid responsiveness when asked to review a submission or suggest a referee. More specifically, I wish to express my personal appreciation for the durable and skilled efforts of our four Associate Editors: Per Hansen (Copenhagen Business School), Andrew Popp (University of Liverpool), Francesca Polese (Bocconi University, Milan), and Sharon Ann Murphy (Providence College). Finally, in gratitude for their willingness to sustain our scholarly mission and for the consistently rigorous quality of their reports, I wish to individually recognize this past year’s Enterprise and Society referees (9/1/2011–8/31/2012):

• Andrew Alexander

• Gerben Bakker

• Mark Billings

• William Childs

• Teresa da Silva Lopes

• Stephanie Decker

• Tracey Deutsch

• Giovanni Favero

• Neil Forbes

• Tiffany Gill

• Margaret Graham

• Robert Gudmestad

• Shane Hamilton

• Simon Hardy

• William Hausman

• David Higgins

• Vicki Howard

• Paul Jobling

• Christopher Jones

• Stephen Kotkin

• Pamela Laird

• Margaret Levenstein

• Rachel Maines

• Daniel Margolies

• Ranald Michie

• Thomas Misa

• Marina Moskowitz

• Sharon Murphy

• Julia Ott

• Robin Pearson

• Daniel Pope

• Glen Asner

• Michael Bernstein

• Louis Cain

• Jim Cohen

• Virginia Dawson

• Kent Deng

• Paul Duguid

• Kenneth Fones-Wolf

• Carola Frydman

• Jonathan Goldstein

• Richard Grossman

• Jan Hadlaw

• Per Hansen

• Nicolas Hatzfeld

• Lars Heide

• David Hochfelder

• Louis Hyman

• J.A. Johnson

• Yavuz Koese

• Uri Kupferschmidt

• Claire Lemercier

• Qing Lu

• John Majewski

• Tomas Martinez

• Paul Miranti

• Simon Mollan

• Miguel Munoz

• Thomas O’Brien

• Ivana Paniccia

• Francesca Polese

• Andrew Preston

• Nuria Puig

• Anjanette Raymond

• Giorgio Riello

• Mary Rose

• Mona Russell

• Bruce Seely

• Philip Slaby

• John K. Smith, Jr.

• Howard Stanger

• David Stebenne

• John Tang

• Ed Todd

• Adrian Tschoegl

• Steven Usselman

• Aahish Velkar

• David Weiman

• Mira Wilkins

• Robert Wright

• Larry Zacharias

• Erika Rappaport

• Alfred Reckendrees

• Mark Rose

• Joan Ramon Roses

• Peter Scholliers

• Mathias Siems

• Jason Smith

• Leigh Sparks

• Alessandro Stanziani

• Richard Sylla

• Christopher Tassava

• Carl Trocki

• Aristotle Tympas

• Hugo van Driel

• Margarita Vilar

• Charlie Whitham

• Victoria Shaker Woeste

• Jeff Yost

• Madeline Zelin