Over the years, Bill has co-authored a number of New York Times Bestsellers including “Financial Reckoning Day”, “Empire of Debt”, and “Mobs, Markets and Messiahs”. He is also the author of “Hormegeddon,” which “Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb described as a “must, must, must read.” In his own opinion, his most recent title, “A Modest Theory of Civilization: Win-Win or Lose” is perhaps his best work yet.
Bill also founded the worldwide research network, The Agora, in 1979. Analysts within the group, including Bill himself, have exposed and predicted some of the world’s biggest shifts since that time, starting with the fall of the Soviet Union back in the late 1980s, to the collapse of the dot.com (2000) and mortgage finance (2008) bubbles, and more recently, the election of President Trump. Though begun in a ramshackle office in a bad neighborhood of Baltimore, The Agora now has offices in 10 countries and more paid subscribers than the Washington Post and the New York Times put together.
While most of The Agora publications focus on health or finance, some are sui generis. Les Belles Lettres, for example, is a company founded in 1919 to publish the writings that survive from the Classical Period — ancient and classical Rome and Greece. In recent years, it has expanded into Chinese classics. Another unique member of The Agora is International Living, a magazine founded by Mr. Bonner in 1979. It offers readers suggestions, information and advice about living overseas.
International Living led Bill and his partners to purchase 2,700 acres of land on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. Years later, the property became known to the world as Rancho Santana. By the time the widely celebrated Inn at Rancho Santana was completed in 2015, “the ranch” had positioned itself as Nicaragua’s premiere resort destination.
Long before guests arrived, however, Bill and his colleagues realized that the local inhabitants had an immediate need for health care services. They began amassing donations and recruiting volunteers. In 2004 the Roberto Clemente Health Clinic was built, staffed and ready to open its doors. Today, the clinic continues to serve and treat more than 8,000 local residents and visitors per year.
In his spare time, Bill enjoys restoring old properties or building new ones - usually with his own hands. One, in Argentina, is constructed of adobe, mud and stone, following Roman-era building techniques. It was put up with the help of two of his sons and a small crew of local gauchos. Another is a solar house built in Maryland, constructed of ferro-cement. The house was so unconventional – and perhaps uncomfortable – that his wife refused to live in it. “No one ever built a house like that before,” jokes Bill. “And no one ever will again.”
