Friends In High Places: The Bechtel Story : The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World [Paperback]

Laton McCartney (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The title reflects the author's characterization of the 80-year-old Bechtel Group, America's largest private company, which has incalculable resources and influences not only on U.S. foreign policy but on world events as well. Starting with its founder, entrepreneur Warren Bechtel, who built roads, railroads and other major projects like the Boulder Dam (constructed in alliance with Henry J. Kaiser), this engrossing account by freelance journalist McCartney traces the growth of the engineering firm's international operations under the leadership of the son and grandson during WW II and after, when the company won contracts for ships, planes, the Alaska Pipeline and nuclear plants. The group's executives, McCartney contends, have filled or still occupy key posts in the White House, State Department, Pentagon and CIA, or have become CEOs of companies ready to further or protect Bechtel interests. The author also provides behind-the-scenes insights as to how the group covers up, if needed, questionable enterprises and conflicts of interest.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This unauthorized history of the Bechtel family and the companies making up the Bechtel Group is by a journalist. Well written and researched, it exposes the relationship between one of the largest privately held companies in the United States and the federal government. (John A. McCone, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, George Shultz, and Caspar Weinberger are only a few of Bechtel's one-time employees.) It relates a story of influence peddling, spying, and old-fashioned favoritism. (Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Dwight Eisenhower are only a few of the friends mentioned.) It is also the story of Bechtel's anti-Semitism and link to the CIA. Fun to read, this will stir up at least one board room. Recommended for most business collections. Michael D. Kathman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Collegeville, Minn.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Updated edition (April 8, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345360443
• ISBN-13: 978-0345360441
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SECRETS AND FRIENDS: THE BECHTEL ADVANTAGES!!, December 16, 2005

By 

RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Friends In High Places: The Bechtel Story : The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World (Paperback)

Laton McCartney has torn the cover off of the Bechtel Group and given us insight into one of the most successful, most influential, and most controversial mega-businesses in the history of the planet earth. A giant octopus with tentacles everywhere imaginable, plunking down projects, and sucking up billions of private and public funds, all over the world. We hear lots about Halliburton and it's foibles, but when was the last time you heard a peep from the Bechtel Group? Bechtel is a "private" corporation with no stockholders and no messy SEC investigations to endure. These guys, as the book tells us, know how to operate out of sight. Even their internal power struggles and disappointments are out of public sight. The book describes Stephen Bechtel, Jr as operating his personal life in a way that would make an experienced undercover spy proud. And then there is "The Grove", the real "friends in high places". There are things in this book you should know, but don't believe everything. A dollop of good sense will guide you through what is on the edge of truth and what isn't. Just be careful not to believe everything.

This is one of the most interesting reads of non-fiction that one will ever make, because it informs us of what has been going on behind our backs, out of reach of the "evening news" or "headline news", Time, or Newsweek, or the New York Times, for that matter. You can thank publishers Simon and Schuster for bringing this to the light of day.

The definitive Halliburton book has not been written yet because so much 'flotsam and jetsam' has yet to be retrieved and examined in the wake of the Iraqi War(s) and disasters like Hurricane Katrina. To be sure, Bechtel was and is involved in both wars AND Katrina, on a parallel track with Halliburton. So knowing Bechtel, gives general strategic insight into Halliburton and vice versa. In addition, when one finishes this book, you must immediately 'google' the word 'Bechtel' to see what they are currently 'up to'. Clues are everywhere on the web, but they are still secretive and still very active, making money 'hand over fist', but not without making their own strategic mistakes. Guess who is responsible for rebuilding the Baghdad electrical grid and water/sewage systems? Well, well! The fact that they have made it through the rough patches attests to their internal strengths as detailed in the book. And yes, there is Reagan, Bush I, George Pratt Schultz, (and probably Bush II involvement, since Riley Bechtel is a presidential advisor on middle eastern trade). Well, well, indeed! The book folds nicely into current events. While Halliburton is getting nothing but grief over Iraq, Bechtel is all but invisible and bullet-proof, just as our author suggests in earlier times.

Some of this is appalling, almost immoral, but it always seems to be quite legal. Like giving a Saudi a 10 percent share in Arabian Bechtel in order to secure the initiation of a project. Sounds like a bribe to me, but it was ruled otherwise and everything proceeded on. Whew! So don't look for Bechtel to be in any courtrooms in the near future. If you 'google' "Bechtel Lawsuit", there is precious little there, since 20 years ago, except for Bechtel suing Bolivia, South America's poorest nation, for $25 Million. Read the book, take some of it with a huge grain of salt, and keep the rest in your storehouse of knowledge. At about 240 pages in a Hardcover, with 30 pages of 'notes' & 'index', it's a brisk, but penetrating read into this corporation, how it operates, and how it affects us all. Ante up! Five PENETRATING Stars!!

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engineered the World : And Made a Lot of Money At It Too., January 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Friends in High Places: The Bechtel Story : The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World (Hardcover)

An excellent book that provides an interesting insider's view into one of the largest engineering and construction firms of modern times. From the Hoover Dam to the Middle East to the United States Government, this book shows how the Bechtel Corporation did what it wanted to, when it wanted to, and used whom it wanted to as long as it made the few controlling members of it's management very rich. And all this was training for the government deals to come. This book offers a historical detailing of this company's ethical and social violations as well as the building of an empire. Read it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars great raw materials, lack of critical analysis, December 5, 2007

By 

L. Zhu "strictly nonfiction" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends In High Places: The Bechtel Story : The Most Secret Corporation and How It Engineered the World (Paperback)

The author has done a remarkable job in gathering many interesting materials on this secretive and powerful private company which has played a pivotal role in US global expansion. The raw materials should turn any book on this subject into a thrilling and revealing journey. However, the lack of any critical analysis and the white-wash treatment makes the book a disappointment considering its high potential. I reckon this is a conscious choice of the author and a understandable one.