 These two books "were essentially hostile to corporations" and focused on "shenanigans", according to Lemann, whereas Berle combined a "much broader historical and social perspective" along with detailed statistical evidence.As well, "The Modern Corporation" was published following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 when the Great Depression was underway.Public sentiment had shifted from the glorification of achievements accomplished by corporations in the 1920s which had led to a "delirious moneymaking opportunity for the growing American middle class" to questioning of the 1920s "economic arrangements" that "had utterly failed and needed to be replaced."