Introduction : the strange career of consulting -- Ecomonics of knowledge : a theory of management consulting -- Accounting for a new profession : consultant's struggle -- For jurisdiction power -- Howhave consultants mattered? the case of Lukens steel -- Creating the contractor state : consultants in the American Federal Government -- Finding profits in nonprofits : the influence of consultants on the third sector -- The gilded age of consulting : a snapshot of consultants circa 1960 -- The American challenge : exporting the American model -- Selling corporate culturem : codifying and commodifying professionalism -- Watchdogs, lapdogs, or retrievers? liability and the rebirth of the management adult -- Conclusion : the word's newest profession? -- Notes.