Most research so far on organizational forms in insurance has concentrated on isolated issues such as agency problems, adverse selection, and access to capital, among many others. The editors of this book call for a more comprehensive framework to combine factors, and they successfully manage to place the research in a larger context of organizational, economic, legal, and cultural theory.

Monica Keneley's limpidly written chapter on mutual life insurers in colonial Australia is a very good example; it considers economic and social factors as the primary contextual prerequisites for the foundation of mutuals, while environmental (regulatory and economic) structures and market factors appear to have been the main forces for their further establishment and growth. Mats Larsson and Mikael Lönnborg discuss legislation and legal frameworks in their long-term study of mutuals and joint-stock companies in Sweden in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while Jerònia Pons provides some rare insight into fascist interest in mutual insurance during Franco's dictatorship and insurance supporting the political economy. Ying Ying Jiang describes competition between mutuals and joint-stock companies for market shares in Japan, with increasingly similar product offerings that to some degree blurred the traditional lines between the two organizational forms and allowed mutuals to make profits on their products.

Indeed, one main finding of the book is that the distinction between these two dominant corporate forms is not always clear. As illustrated in several chapters, mixed mutual and joint-stock organizations as well as mutual holdings with joint-stock companies have existed throughout history. The choice of an organizational form, then, emerges not so much as a choice but more as a perceived necessity in many cases, being subject to ideologies, legal circumstances, and the ease of access to capital, but also to the nature of the insured risks as well as cultural views. The latter is brilliantly illustrated in Takau Yoneyama's account of Tsuneta Yano's Confucian-based decision to found Japan's first mutual insurer in spite of being an ardent supporter of a free market economy. Accordingly, organizational choices had to be reconsidered in changing market environments, and many companies demutualized during waves of mergers and acquisitions—or at least adopted some features associated with joint-stock enterprises—while mutuality started gaining ground again in the wake of the credit crunch, from 2008 onward.

The solidarity principle underlying insurance may, to some degree, justify the tendency of the book to devote the most space to professional mutual organizations. Joint-stock companies appear mainly in comparison with mutuals, while communal organizations and state insurance are dealt with almost exclusively in the introduction. It may be difficult to define, of course, exactly when mutual aid starts qualifying as professional insurance and to decide which forms of alternative risk protection belong in a book about organizational choice. Some readers, however, may wish that more attention was given not only to joint-stock companies but also to alternative forms of risk protection. Private, community-based, state-backed, and business initiatives formed a complex ecosystem for managing risks. Mutuals contrasted not only with joint-stock companies, but to some degree also with friendly societies that gained considerable market shares in the nineteenth century. Some gradually morphed into mutual insurers; others fell victim to state insurance schemes. A chapter on the transition from fraternal or friendly societies, boxing clubs, and similar groups to insurance companies, as well as some research into the political clash between working class–dominated societies and right-wing welfare initiatives, would have been welcome additions.

That said, the excellent introduction provides an overview of some alternative forms of mitigating risks—such as burial clubs, grain storages, and rescue clubs—and also considers state insurance as an important player. In addition, two chapters explore alternative forms of insurance: Hisaaki Kamiya's research into Mitsubishi's captive operations produces possibly the first academic historical investigation of captive insurance while also providing some insight into Japanese business history that has so far been unavailable to non-Japanese speakers. Robin Pearson and Helen Doe contribute a chapter on the idiosyncrasies of U.K. marine insurance and the development of so-called protection and indemnity clubs. The diversity of British marine insurance and its actors, the peculiarities of marine risks, and the rapid rise (and partial fall) of joint stocks from the turn of the eighteenth century on, as well as a comparatively fast-adapting and partially overefficient legal system, provide this chapter with virtually all influences on the choice and success of organizational forms. This consequently makes for very dense but equally rewarding reading. Issues around demutualization are also discussed in detail in several contributions. In this respect, Natsuki Kinoshita's chapter stands out. The author describes the attempt of a black insurance mutual in the 1960s to demutualize against the background of changing racial conditions. The overall conditions of black people in this period worsened to such a degree that black insurance companies were deprived of the bulk of their business. On the other hand, although working conditions for some middle-class black people improved, these people increasingly chose to insure with white insurance companies or were covered by broader insurance schemes, depriving black insurance companies of their best risks. The case also sheds light on the gradual move from associational activity to a more market-oriented organization.

Turning risk protection into business is a complex issue. The diversity of risks and the changing cultural, business, economic, and legislative environments over time add to this complexity. Insurance, then, is perhaps one of the best areas in which to investigate organizational choice, and this book provides ample inspiration for further study. Although the editors do not compare insurance with other industries, the findings are still relevant beyond their immediate research subject and provide insight for a broader audience interested in managerial and business organizational history.