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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man [Paperback]

John Perkins (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (745 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.

Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Perkins spent the 1970s working as an economic planner for an international consulting firm, a job that took him to exotic locales like Indonesia and Panama, helping wealthy corporations exploit developing nations as, he claims, a not entirely unwitting front for the National Security Agency. He says he was trained early in his career by a glamorous older woman as one of many "economic hit men" advancing the cause of corporate hegemony. He also says he has wanted to tell his story for the last two decades, but his shadowy masters have either bought him off or threatened him until now. The story as presented is implausible to say the least, offering so few details that Perkins often seems paranoid, and the simplistic political analysis doesn’t enhance his credibility. Despite the claim that his work left him wracked with guilt, the artless prose is emotionally flat and generally comes across as a personal crisis of conscience blown up to monstrous proportions, casting Perkins as a victim not only of his own neuroses over class and money but of dark forces beyond his control. His claim to have assisted the House of Saud in strengthening its ties to American power brokers may be timely enough to attract some attention, but the yarn he spins is ultimately unconvincing, except perhaps to conspiracy buffs.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 303 pages
  • Publisher: Plume (December 27, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0452287081
  • ISBN-13: 978-0452287082
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (745 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #1 in  Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > International Relations
    #1 in  Books > Business & Investing > Economics > International
    #1 in  Books > Business & Investing > International

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John Perkins
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
economic hit man, load forecaster, global empire
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Saudi Arabia, World Bank, Peace Corps, Middle East, Latin America, Canal Zone, House of Saud, Wall Street, World War, New York, New Hampshire, Canal Treaty, Graham Greene, Panama Canal, Kermit Roosevelt, Soviet Union, Ground Zero, Mac Hall, North America, World Trade Center, Uncle Frank, Omar Torrijos, John Perkins, King of Kings
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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
96% buy the item featured on this page:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins Paperback 3.5 out of 5 stars (745)
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The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World
2% buy
The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World by John Perkins Paperback 4.2 out of 5 stars (75)
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Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them
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A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption
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3.5 out of 5 stars (745 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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182 of 197 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars No proof required, April 26, 2005
This review is from: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (Hardcover)
Many of the reviews here refute the truthfulness of this book because Perkins does not provide evidence for every one of his claims. But, this is precisely what makes the book an exciting and fast read. How can Perkins be expected to provide evidence for influencing events in other countries? Where should we expect to find documentation of these nefarious deeds? The inner workings of organizations like MAIN, Halliburtion, and Brown & Root are only ever known when a dissenter arises.

From my perspective, it all seems to add up. I lived in Ecuador in the 80s. I was young (18), and I didn't know much about politics at the time. I personally saw many of the projects that Perkins speaks of in this book. I heard the complaints from my Ecuadorian friends about how the U.S. was bankrupting their economy by "loaning" money for extensive construction projects. I saw the jungle along Rio Napo being deforested by unknown (to me) companies. I spent time in oil towns in the jungle -- like Shell. I saw the dam that Perkins speaks of in his book.

The only way to gather proof about the truthfulness of his claims is to see it first hand. Though I seriously doubt that most of us have the guts to travel to the places where these things happen. Denial, regarding these issues, seems terribly naive.
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285 of 322 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars For History look elsewhere, for a sound, engaging critique read it., November 8, 2004
This review is from: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (Hardcover)
John Perkins was interviewed by Leonard Lopate on WNYC Radio in New York. You can listen to the interview and make your own decision about John's book.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/11082004

Note: Although many other books have been written about how U.S. aid policy has been used as a means of manipulating foreign countries, the fact remains that John Perkin's book is from an insiders perspective. It exposes the truth behind how corporate greed has hijacked U.S. Foreign Policy. You can find many more books on the facts and history but for a sound, engaging critique read it.
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54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The personal illuminates the global, November 20, 2004
By Judith Lautner (San Luis Obispo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (Hardcover)
It is often the personal stories that tell the bigger truths. As with Barbara Ehrenreich's intensely personal Nickel and Dimed, Perkins' story illuminates a larger picture in a way that more scholarly treatises cannot match. I value the perspective I get from Noam Chomsky and Chalmers Johnson and many others who have written about our modern empire. None of these works, though, explains it from the ground up. Perkins does that.

In this book, written in spurts since the early 1980s, Perkins really does tell it like it is. This is the book I have been waiting for, the book that fills in the blanks left behind by the writers of global theories, the book that tells us how it really happens. It is one thing to read that the United States engineered ousters of democratically-elected leaders who did not do the bidding of our corporations. It is another to read of the actual steps that led to these actions. As one who likes to be able to visualize all the steps, I found great comfort in reading a well-written personal story that allows me to do this.

In this rightly-named confession, Perkins puts on his hair shirt and chastises himself as he explains how he gave in to temptation again and again over several decades, while he worked to build an American corporation's profits at the expense of third-world countries. He does not describe in detail the benefits he accrued from being Satan's handyman. We do not hear stories of his exploits with women, of his flaunting his power, the meat of a LifeTime movie. These fruits of his labor are glossed over in favor of greater descriptions of the occasional pangs of conscience.

Take it as a given, then, that Perkins was right for the job of economic hit man because he was so easily tempted by material wealth, power, and adulation. There was, in his character, though, a little hint of conscience. He was interested in the world's people, happy to learn other languages and ways of living, open to old as well as new ideas. Thus he was able to make a more honest comparison of the world according to global corporations and the world as seen and lived by indigenous people. And he was able to see that his work only benefitted the few. There was in him, as well, the radical view that a benefit to the few was not much of a benefit.

I can see this story translated successfully to the big screen; either as a documentary or as the story of one man. Two very different films; either would be dramatic and informative. There are scenes in this book that could have come from a Graham Greene novel (and let's not forget that Greene tells the truth through fiction): clandestine meetings, sudden flights to escape uprisings, epiphanies on the beach. By its nature, a memoir of this type cannot fully be documented. To the extent that it could be, it is, with many pages of notes and references. These private memories, though, may never be proven to be either true or false.

It is my greatest wish that Perkins is telling the whole truth all the way through. Even the smallest of fibs could tarnish a work of great importance, given our media's inability to see bigger pictures.

The real message, though, is clearly written and inescapable: this is not the story of "they", a "they" that can simply be removed from power. It is the story of us.



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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern US Imperialism
This is an excellent book about how the US corporate/government/banking complex plunders underdeveloped countries without firing a shot. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Elliot Malach

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book - read it, but with a big grain of salt
An interesting read - Conservatives who are sure that it is nothing but lies should open their eyes a bit to the reality of America's perceived role in the world, but Liberals who... Read more
Published 18 days ago by Dr. Dan

5.0 out of 5 stars EVERY U.S. CITIZEN SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
FOUR AND A HALF STARS. Okay, this book is not perfect. Perkins is not a professional writer, and his repetitive assessment of the immorality of his past professional work gets... Read more
Published 24 days ago by J. V. Hennburg

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative book from an insider's perspective, highly recommended
This book illustrates many processes of economic and political globalization. Written from an insider's perspective, reader's learn a lot about what goes on behind closed doors... Read more
Published 25 days ago by A. Halpin

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST read
Please read this book. It lends more understanding to the way things work at the highest levels. How the big corporations interact with the government.
Published 29 days ago by D. C. Morrison

3.0 out of 5 stars Get the book- NOT the audio version
Content aside, the audio version of this book is the worst performance by an audio reader that I have ever heard. Terrible. Can't even finish it on CD.
Published 1 month ago by A Librarian

2.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelming
I had much higher expectations about getting an inside view, but Perkins superfically goes over a historical record that is all too well known. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Stephen Harris

1.0 out of 5 stars Confessions of a Self-Absorbed Narcissist
First off let me just say that I don't care about whether everything in this book is true or not. Had it just been a good book that was all that I was looking for. Read more
Published 1 month ago by modivarch

5.0 out of 5 stars fascinating
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man was a fascinating read. From the first page until the last, I was held hostage with events of government and big business intervention into... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Donna Roberts

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!
I have read three of Perkins books and heard him speak in several interviews. I look forward to any new material he publishes.
Published 2 months ago by THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION...

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