John Morrison is a thought leader in the business and human rights movement, having worked at The Body Shop, led the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights, and now serving as founding Executive Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Business. As such, he is an expert in the "social license to operate" that companies must secure all over the world. (Disclosure: I have known John for years and think highly of him as a colleague and friend.)In this, his first book, Morrison traces the roots of that idea to social contract theory, and broadens the debate beyond his usual professional realm of companies to include governments and nongovernment organizations, rightly asserting that all organizations need legitimacy.This is not a book for beginners to the debate over corporations' responsibilities to society; newcomers to the topic might need to visit some of the sources helpfully cited in the notes. And I found myself wishing that Morrison had included more stories to illustrate his points.Regardless, this is an important contribution to an important debate; and Morrison has done the world a favor by sharing his thoughts and expertise.