Have you ever wondered how the world really, really, really works? Perkins attempts to show insight into the secretive world of global finance, emphasis on markets, and the quest for American Empire.

I really wanted to love this book, yet at times it felt more than a bit shallow. It is hard to know what is true and what may be distorted. Perhaps Perkins cannot come completely clean.

Having lived abroad for several years in the 1990's I can attest to the "Ugly-American" syndrome, and how some have contempt for foreign cultures.

Debt burden and the rise of the Corporatocracy are true and attestable. If you don't believe it, search for "Project for a new American Century" on Google. Take a look at the membership, and you will find many of the cast of characters within Perkins book.

Remember, "The greatest trick the Devil ever performed, is convincing the world he doesn't exist."

Cheers!

Although this book is a highly self-centred and personal account of his role in the "corporatocracy", Perkins' account is an eye-opener and a great introduction into the current state of our world. Perkins has been criticised for publically airing his guilt over his actions, however this is his way of coming to terms with his actions. I don't believe this is fair criticism, as this book is a personal account. It is engaging because it is about John Perkins. It's like criticising an apple for being an apple. However, I do admit that including a three page resume about himself was a bit much. That's way too much ego! That said, I would still recommend this book to people seeking answers to why the world is in the state that it's in, and for anyone else in fact!

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary story of a modern man facing his inner demons, with the backdrop of a world gone mad. Highly recommended!

This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. All his mistakes in life are someone elses fault (ie, his parents, school, wives, employer,etc.) It amazes me he stayed with the organization for 3 decades and FINALLY decided it was evil. He takes no responsibility for his actions. Sour grapes to me.

During college I came across numerous critiques and debates over the negative aspects of globalization on "emerging countries" in how often times quality of life is worsened, not improved for the local populous. In this respect, Perkins's insights are not revolutionary. However, his discussion of how unchecked personal greed leads to the intertwining of political and financial interests to create a new global empire is fascinating. This new global empire, deemed the "corporatocracy", seeks to advance the interests of unbridled capitalism (read: corporate greed) through a combination of economic and military pressures. What's truly fascinating, and frankly shocking, is that this omnipresent greed is often not the work of handful conspirators, but rather the product of a system that equates materialism and consumption with economic and social development. That's not to say there aren't appalling examples of cloak and dagger conspiracies and purposeful manipulations, such as American support of the House of Saud, the Panamanian invasion, support for the Iranian Shah, and Halliburton in Iraq, but the truly sickening examples are the pervasive and far more subtle manipulations engendered by a system driven by consumption. This book exposes how special interest groups manipulate perception to advance personal interests at the expense of long-term national security and global stability.

This book is not "political" in the sense that it is a criticism of the current administration, or favors Democrats over Republicans, but rather is an indictment of all drivers of global empire, which includes government, media, and finance heads across the political spectrum. Moreover, this is not a criticism of America as some might suggest. It is a criticism of a perversion of the American ideals of freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness with the pursuit of ever-increasing consumption. This consumption fuels our need for natural resources, which in turn drives our foreign and economic policies leading to corruption and abuse of our power as the world's sole Super Power. It helps illuminate how this abuse has created many of America's enemies, because our dependence on foreign resources has forced us to create this global empire with little regard for those we seek to bring into our spheres of influence. This unsustainable empire building poses far greater risks to the U.S. than any individual terrorist or rogue nation threat because it is this reckless imperialism that destroys empires. Confessions of an EHM is essential reading to understand how the greed of our past continues to drive the current geopolitical instability. Open your eyes to prevent history repeating itself for the next generation!

Why has America's prestige in the world fallen? Why is our country being criticized? This book's title is sensational-appearing but the subject is serious. The issues raised aren't hype they are happening today.
Mr. Perkins' experiences relate closely to my observations as a national finance and banking executive in this country. The methods that he desribes ring true to what I have witnessed.
What should have been obvious to me, in the international setting, was made clear by John Perkin's book with the "film noir" title.
Please read, share and debate this very readable book.

I avoided reading this book for a long time because of the sensational-appearing title and reviews. The issues raised, however, aren't hype. The author relates experiences that are similar in method to what I have observed during my national financial and banking career in our own country.
What should have been obvious to me, as applied to the international setting, was made clear by John Perkin's book with the "film noir" title.
Please read, share and debate this very readable book.

I wanted to like this book. And I'm really a pushover for conspiracy and behind the scene shenanigans. But by page 6, I was done. There are little things that give away a lie, i.e. inappropriate self references that sound like puffery and macho sounding titles that no actual business or agency would use. And an overall sense of vacuousness as though words are just as good as reality.

Also, making conclusions about the most innocuous events based upon a stereo-typical liberal immaturity: hatred of America and anything that relates to morals (interesting how those 2 things always are found in the same person) He used the words puritan, prudish or moralistic several times in the first 3 pages of text. Few words expose a person like those do.

Thank you John Perkins for your insight into what the American Empire is doing to the world. It's refreshing to take a break from the TV network propaganda and get some real scoop about our own country. In fact, one of my favorite parts of your book is the following: "...We have such difficulty listening to the real story. We prefer to believe the myth that thousands of years of human social evolution has finally perfected the ideal economic system, rather than to face the fact we have merely bought into a false concept and accepted it as gospel". Because you see, Mr. Perkins, your description of the immense subtlety involved in the economic hit man business is the very cunning process referred to in Alexis De Tocqueville's book, "Democracy in America" when he writes that civilization has perfected despotism. This process is better explained in the book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept) May everyone read your book, and may everyone understand that the details are not the point.

I don't doubt the main premise behind this book: the world financial market and leading financial institutions seek to dominate emerging markets to maximize profit for their own gain. I also don't deny the very real historical facts covered in places such as Latin America and Indonesia. But to call this piece of work "history" is a farce.


The picture Perkins of himself seems part Bourne, part Bond. It is fanciful, generalized, and darkly romantic. It lacks the unmistakable flavor of truth.

In his Q & A that follows the novel, he responds to whether or not he fears for his life since he divulged so much information. To which he replies (and to paraphrase), his death would lead to more copies of his book being sold, thus more publicity about the evil empire seeking to crush the little people of this world.

The British wore their empire proudly, we as Americans try to deny our dark side. Whether you finally choose to play down this dark side or come to the conclusion that things must change, you should at least read this insider's story and weigh his conclusions.

What this story reveals is painful at times, but Perkins writes with an engaging and deeply personal style. What some reviewers are interpreting as egoistic actually is breaking new ground. His work is a twist on the traditional Calvinistic "confessional" tract: a call for a secular spirituality that can embrace and make demands on capitalism for the sake of democracy.

It is hard not to feel jealous of Perkins, however, as he travels the globe with all his power, money, and privilege. It is as if he is a successful Faust: he made his bargain with the devil and yet has never had to pay his pound of flesh.

Perhaps he has now made a bargain with the Light Side to speak and write and lead us all to find a better way. He's got his work cut out for him, since most of us participate in some way in the present system. We all need conversions. I basically trust the guy, but each reader must reach his/her own very personal judgments about his story.

The way to read his story is with an open mind and heart: does what he is saying help to explain things you have read and seen? What defensive reactions are you experiencing and why? What inner work do you need to do to free yourself from the mentalities of empire? Or would you rather go on denying, willing to make the compromises of a hitman even though the world has had enough of that game?

Or, perhaps, his piece of the puzzle is too dark, too one-sided, or not exactly what we need as a world right now? Is the truth too hard to stomach, or can it motivate us to change? Those who disagree with Perkin's call to change need to come up with their own way to understand the failures of the West in our engagements around the world. The statistics of failure are too stark. The cries of anger and pain are too clear.

Just as our international corporations have pillaged other countries, this same corporations-government has blatantly pillaged us in Iraq. I was deeply offended as an American citizen by the irresponsible "use" of money. Their(our) behavior made it clear to me before I even read this book that this was business as usual for them, so I was not surprised by John's confession. Much of what John reveals is actually crying out in the newspapers and around us day after day.

Ultimately, this is a book about spirituality. If we reflect deeply on what each of us have experienced, read, seen, and know about the present state of our society, and our corporate, governmental, and institutional culture, we have to admit that we have slid down the wrong track over the last decades and need to embrace change with courage, a clean heart, and a new commitment to our deepest principles and values.

I picked up the book in Abu Dhabi, where it was prominently displayed in that corpotacracy Western cultural imperialist bastion the "Virgin Megastore"... in Abu Dhabi Mall (built by Australian imperialist construction firms!!!)

While I found part of the book interesting (he is a good storyteller, and his accounts of Trujillo in Panama in particular are fascinating) the book was incredibly disappointing as a whole.

This is due primarily to:

1. The lack of any substantive facts about his "EHM" work or the results of it, for which we are left to simply take him at his word;
2. His deeply self-centered and dangerously oversimplified notions of how the world economy works, colored with further personal narratives of dubious factual quality and very weak sourcing; and
3. The relentless self-aggrandizing and redemption-seeking that just kills the style and completely erodes his credibility.

As a memoir naturally whole book is about the author, John Perkins, but this does not keep him from including an additional 4-page timeline of his life and his achievements, and 3 more pages about... himself. I mean, this guy has such an ego I am certain having lunch with him would be a nightmare, just from reading the book.


Throughout the whole book, Perkins dubiously links himself to major world events, another reflection of his pathologically self centered world-view.

In the chapter "Pimping and Financing Osama bin Laden", he somehow links his brief and negligible work in Saudi arranging an escort for an unnamed member of the royal family to Osama bin Laden.

He links himself an his work to Osama via... a US News and World Report article and another article in Vanity Fair - which he probably picked up at a supermarket check-out isle.

Overall the book weaves a decent story and provides an interesting look at some of the many evils of US foreign policy - but it is by no means credible, and by no means well balanced or complete.

Perkins, based on his numerous other titles on Amazonian spirituality et al, may have had a bit much ayahuasca to remember all of the events clearly enough and as such, his book makes for a bit of a waste of time compared to the many other titles on the subject.

This was my first introduction to the dark side of globalization, so I was fascinated with the stories despite the author's obvious love affair with himself. I have read some of the other reviews attacking the book's credibility, but I believe that the despicable interventions into developing economies to make a quick buck are real. Why wouldn't they be? We see that sort of slash-and-burn capitalism rewarded every day in the US. Companies are bought, sold, and merged with no regard for peoples' jobs or local economies. Shareholders and CEOs are the only concern. I started with Perkins' other book on the topic, The Secret History of the American Empire, which is more of the same.

That said, it is really important for smart people to start reading credible accounts of the failure of Chicago School economics, which will be revealed as one of the biggest frauds of our day and a true threat to democracy. Selfishness wins in the short term, but true self interest dictates that we invest in fair play, sharing resources, and placing justice above all. In the long run, the success of the community benefits the individual the most. Market forces do not naturally tend toward peace and equal rights, which people universally demand and deserve. Sorry to ruin the frat party.

Thank you for talking John.

Turn off your desperate housewives, and American idol long enough to see what is really going on in our world.

Wake up people!

I bought this book in hardcover a few years ago, and only read it recently after I started looking into why globalization has so many critics (despite its inevitability, and the fact that the IMF and the World Bank are benevolent organizations). I came away with the conclusion that Perkins is an utter charlatan.

Put aside the big whoppers (that Perkins was secretly working for the NSA because he once interviewed there, that the CIA killed two Latin American leaders within a three-month period recently, or that the U.S. had no evidence against Manuel Noriega, who was tried and convicted in a public trial in Miami.) It is the small fibs that give him away.

Perkins claims that he went to Brown on an athletic scholarship. This would make him the only person who has ever received an athletic scholarship from any Ivy League college, in history. OK?

What does the U.S. hope to obtain when it coerces third world countries into signing crushing loan agreements that will bankrupt them with debt? To Perkins, it is leverage to obtain these countries' votes at the U.N. Huh? Since when does the U.N. vote on something in which the U.S. depends on the individual votes of Latin American and African countries? It's not like the U.N. enacts legislation that the U.S. is pushing. Perhaps Perkins was referring to the U.N. Security Council, where any member country can veto a proposal. Problem is, the third world countries he discusses are never on the Security Council.

How about this one: the reason American economics professors do not teach the truth about what the U.S. does in the developing world is because American colleges are run by multinational companies, and these professors would be fired if they taught the truth. Seriously, I am not making this stuff up. Has Perkins ever heard of tenure? How does he explain Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn?

In the course of "Confessions," Perkins is visited in a dream by Jesus, who is actually a South American peasant. Shortly after 9/11, Perkins has a mysterious conversation with a Afghani pedestrian near Ground Zero in New York, and he explains the truth about American peridy.

This is an utterly goofy book. I suppose it is what one would expect from someone who thinks that illiterate cultures can teach us how to travel through time. (My one star reflects that fact that I found myself engaged as I noted how many unbelievable claims leaped off the pages.) In the preface, Perkins described how one publisher recommended that he publish this as a novel. Any doubt why?

This book opened my eyes to a large degree. I think it is something that everyone needs to read to expand their horizons, and take a moment to view the world from another man's perspective.

Well written, insightful and very readable.

I am handing my copy off to friends and family to make them read it as well.

This book reads like a novel and less like a non-fiction. It draws to light the misguided spending of the US and other first world nations. It's not wildly enlightening but a fairly good read all the same.

This is a significant book and I highly recommend it. The book is a first person, non-fictional account of a corporate economic adviser who credits his quick rise to the top to a secret "Corptocracy" running the International Monitory Fund and World Bank, among others.

If you ever wondered why the US invaded Panama, how the Shaw of Iran came to power, or why the Saudi's have soo much power, this book is a good starting place. Five Stars *****

Six years in Belize (1999-2005)convinced me that Perkins is right on. He can't be totally specific or he'll be sued for libel. So you have to give him some leeway. But I watched Fortis, a Canadian Co. bribe their way to building one, two, soon to be three hydroelectric dams -- a total economic failure for Belize. How could this happen? Perkins explains it.

It's interesting to see the spin that the US Corporatocracy (represented, of course, by some of our reviewers here) puts on the book to discredit it.

If you want to see how the US victimizes third-world countries, you should include this book in your research.

The author of this book has verifiable credentials. There is not doubt that he has been where he says he has and there is no reason to doubt what he has done. Instead of questioning his credibility as most reviews have done, listen to what the man is saying. He communicates a very accurate account of what he (and our country) has been through. To try and discredit this "memoir" is to say that someone else was there watching and can discredit him. The fact is that Mr. Perkins was at these events. He did experience them. I appreciate that people question what they are told, but no company mentioned in this memoir will dispute what is written as fact. John Perkins held the positions that he states that he held and for the time periods the he claims he held them. The entire point of what the man and the companies he represented were doing was ineffective if you can prove or disprove anything beyond that. What do you need to believe? There is no one to hold your hand.
That said, after hearing what is reviewed in this book, there is no reason anyone should let one red cent of profit go to this man. He already has his riches. He has made them consistently since he started working as an "EHM." If the turn of conscience that John Perkins has claimed to have experienced in this book is true, make sure that you read or hear (audiobook) everything he has to say on the subject and make sure that everyone you know hears it as well without him profiting. I appreciate Amazon.com as a business but this is one case where the right thing to do is to disseminate this information/history without profits being made.

Perkins provides precious little detail in his work as an "Economic Hit Man." First, the book is about making other countries dependent on foreign debt. This is not news and being the economist who creates the lofty projections does not a hit man make. There is none of the cloak-and-dagger intrigue that you might expect.

Second, Perkins never discusses what he actually did. In nearly 300 pages he simply says he "cooked the books." This gloss deadens a book that might have had some real meat. Indeed, an account of 1970s and 80s Jakarta is really neat and vivid, but that can be accomplished in 5,000 - 10,000 words. Where is an explanation of the assessment process, a comparison of reality vs. his projects, etc.?

At best, this is a "tell-some" book, with a lot of lofty conclusions.

This will sound like a cliché, but Confessions of an Economic Hit Man truly changed my life. Perkins describes a horrific world of which many of us already suspected it existed, but we `d never really known the details or how exactly it came about. Reading Confessions gave me the sensation of all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. In addition, Perkins' narrative and literary talents make the book a super-exciting piece to read: once you pick it up, you almost can't put down. The nature of the assignments that the author was given during his career as an EHM, and the fact that these missions took place all over the world give his painful and sincere confessions at times the character of a thriller or an adventure novel in real life. As if this isn't enough, Perkins did not write an angry book, and never preaches. He concludes with suggestions in how we can all begin to make a difference, starting on a modest scale, and his inspiring conclusion has a profound impact on my current outlook.

John Perkins actually lived exactly what he writes about. The information is very timely in this an election year. The book is disturbing in that I was so disappointed in the government and many of its leaders in whom I put my trust. It points out that there are dynasties of families in this country who really run the world, destroy environments and cultures, and engineer the death of those who don't agree with their tactics. I would rather know than not know but it made me feel powerless until I read the study guide and found out that Perkins gives us tools to make a difference. A must read!

I read a lot of books on global ecopolitics and world problems. A big reason is my feeling that the power elite may be figuratively preparing to play their hand and I want to somehow be a step ahead of them.

This book is efficiently written. It is as if an editor went through and boned down a dull 600 page documentary while keeping the important parts. It encapsulates the start of our domination of international finance and development at Bretton Woods when the Marshall Plan was approved. The Marshall Plan provided US government funding for the rebuilding of war torn Japan and Europe.

Rockefellers bank, the Chase Manhattan bank, has long specialized in multi-billion dollar loans to third world countries that pave the way for extraction of natural resources, especially oil. In order to more efficiently focus on this activity, the "World Bank" (really a US bank) was created with the IMF (International Monetary Fund).

This is how the dragon works. The elite in Third World countries are presenting with overwhelming studies that somehow 'prove' that the elite and their country will benefit from borrowing tens of billions of dollars from the World Bank. The bank then sends most of this money to approved insider US construction and engineering firms such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Brown & Root, and Shlumberger. The elite who approved of the massive loans are taken care of but the debt is intentionally so massive that the country has no real hope of ever paying it off. Now the Bank has legal recourse to do what happens when debtors can not pay off their loans....they extract their pound of flesh.

There are occasional leaders who prove to be incorruptible and are truly working in the interest of their people. If the economic hit men are unable to prevail against these leaders, jackals move in and the benevolent leader often dies in a ball of fire. Examples are Jaime Roldos of Ecuador and Omar Torrijos of Panama, whom the author was personal friends with. There are times when the jackals are bypassed and the military does the dirty work. Examples are Panama and Iraq.

Economic hit men are paid very well and enjoy a lot of other perks as compensation for selling civilizations down the river. These civilizations lose their lands and quality of life as their environment gets torn apart and poisoned. Unemployment and poverty tend to skyrocket. Tin pot dictators are installed who are beholden to the interests of the international banks and corporations.

I majored in economics for a long time. I know an ex-jackal, well I hope he is an "ex" anyway. An old 'girl friend' dated a man "close to the top" of a bank whose name I can not mention. In the 80's, that man complained of the exact same things that Perkins (book author)points out. His conscience also bothered him and he left after personally doing many loans to the LDCs (less developed countries).

As of late, they are following a less gentlemanly approach. They are simply attaching countries via military conquest (strictly my observation).

The reason this book receives so may one star ratings is because it is both highly effective and it takes aim at the biggest economic entity of them all. There is a very good chance that you work for the corporatocracy involving the international banks, corporations and the intelligence gathering side of the government. In other words, you work for Rockefeller (strictly my observation).

I think everyone should read this book.
Explains how American economic interests trump everything,
and how "third-world" countries are forced into taking bad contracts
against the well-being of most of the populace.

This is garbage. Worse than that, I think this book is bad for progressive economics. First of all, I am pretty sure Perkins is at best exaggerating what went on and at worst, a total liar. I don't doubt that there are people out there that make their living by betting against developing countries, and I don't doubt that there are people who have an economic incentive for progressive developing country leaders to fail. But I really doubt that the way these people ply their trade is by having beautiful blonds show young business guys (in this case, Perkins) the dark path by intellectually seducing them in Boston apartments while going around calling themselves hitmen. Perkins raises a number of good points regarding how third world debt is used as a weapon, and how the interests of the people in the global south do not always line up with their corrupt leaders, but his claims of conspiracy (and his role it in) stretches the realm of the believable.

And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn't mean he's telling the truth. It means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.

Which leads me to my next point. This book is bad for those seeking a more just world economic system. It feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.

There are very smart people writing about these issues in a much more serious way. Save your money and spend it instead on the works of Naomi Kline, Amartya Sen or Paul Collier. You're get a much smarter, more realistic view of the economic situation, and on top of that, it'll even be true.

It's obvious that anyone who writes a negative review of this book is so caught up in the corporate American system that they can't pull their head out of their backside long enough for a breath of fresh air.

I loved this book and found his remorse and hosest confessions to be a much needed breath of fresh air in a world that prizes consumption and disrespect of our precious natural resources. If you respect the planet and hope to preserve it for your children, you will find this book a riveting portrayal of the sad state of the world.

This is garbage. Worse than that, I think this book is bad for progressive economics. First of all, I am pretty sure Perkins is at best exaggerating what went on and at worst, a total liar. I don't doubt that there are people out there that make their living by betting against developing countries, and I don't doubt that there are people who have an economic incentive for progressive developing country leaders to fail. But I really doubt that the way these people ply their trade is by having beautiful blonds show young business guys (in this case, Perkins) the dark path by intellectually seducing them in Boston apartments while going around calling themselves hitmen. Perkins raises a number of good points regarding how third world debt is used as a weapon, and how the interests of the people in the global south do not always line up with their corrupt leaders, but his claims of conspiracy (and his role it in) stretches the realm of the believable.

And no, just because no one has called him a liar doesn't mean he's telling the truth. It means that his argument is so insanely overdrawn that serious people in positions of power do not take him seriously.

Which leads me to my next point. This book is bad for those seeking a more just world economic system. It feeds into the stupid left conspiracies that keep progressive economists impotent. There is a world wide conspiracy! They meet in dark rooms and plot our destruction! Nothing is that simple, folks, and until we give up on fairy tales and start looking at the global economy as it exists, meaning as a complicated world where many powerful people are at cross purposes and few grand conspiracies ever come to fruition we are bound to lose.

There are very smart people writing about these issues in a much more serious way. Save your money and spend it instead on the works of Naomi Kline, Amartya Sen or Paul Collier. You're get a much smarter, more realistic view of the economic situation, and on top of that, it'll even be true.

The author makes long winded attempts to persuade us that he is really one of the good guys, but it is abundantly clear that he is simply trying to appease his own conscience.

Hidden amongst his waffling is lots of good information that otherwise might never have seen the light of day.

It discusses how the US government together with institutions like the World Bank and the IMF conspire to defraud struggling nations out of billions of dollars and make them forever indebted to their US corporate masters.

If only this book, and others like it, were made part of the school curriculum...

In preparation of serving in Ecuador for the Peace Corps, I thought Confessions would be a wise choice of reading to inform me about Ecuador and economic development. Unfortunately, I have finished reading the book and am left with little but conspiracy theories with little substantiation. Everyone knows that western governments and banks have dumped decades of misguided policies on developing countries, especially when it comes to financing of large economic projects such as roads, energy extraction, and electrification, but on this subject Confessions showed remarkably dearth. For example, the author mentions how the Agoyan dam in Ecuador funnels money to wealthy families and has been the source of "untold suffering" for local people. Well, how was the dam financed and what were the economic forecasts pertaining to the construction of the dam? When the author goes to Indonesia, what were the projects that resulted from his economic forecasts, and how have they played out in the country? Shortly after this point, the details become even more brief, of course because the author was no longer working as an economic hitman. He may have insightful commentary about Noriega, Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and Chavez, but little personal involvement in these affairs. It should be obvious that it is impossible to give a suffucient account of economic developments in countries as diverse as those mentioned in Confessions; Perkins is most familiar with Ecuador and the Amazon; why not focus his book on this area? The author does include fascinating anecdotes of his time in all of these countries, but Confessions is not found in the travel section of the bookstore.
I am disappointed because thousands of college students and young people will read this book and become full of negative ideas about international banks and agencies but poorly informed in practicality. Better to focus this attention on specific mistakes that have been made and what exactly those actions caused in result.

This is a very quick read. I'm not sure why some reviewers pan Perkin's writing style; the book obviously didn't meet their expectations - which is no fault of the author.

I enjoyed reading this book. At times that entire concept seems far-fetched, not in the fact that this couldn't happen, because it most likely does. But, the fact the Perkins offers almost no credible evidence to back him up, and claims that the company was very secrative about their work. You would think that through all his years with all the guilt he claims to have, he could easily have come up with some sort of paper trail to support his story.

Perkins has a very detatched perspective in that he claims to feel bad about what he has done, and claims to have felt that way while doing it (also claims to have gone out of his way to learn about what the people of the countries he was out to destroy economically were all about) yet continues anyway. It seems that he now feels that all is o.k. because he wrote a book about his misdeeds to expose the system, 30 years later, that he claims to have had a major roll in creating.

Unlike many other Amazon critics who reviewed this book I shall begin my critique neither by impugning the author's integrity nor shooting the messenger. CONFESSIONS' author John Perkins writes a withering expose in broad brush strokes. His autobiographic narrative in the first person is an easy read, but the glibness with which he writes about running amok left me unsettled and depressed about a zero-sum game in which all nation-states compete for access to raw materials, cheap labor and overseas markets. Would Perkins have us believe that we are any different than our forebears? Spain, for example, financed its empire for three centuries until the early 1820s from precious ores that conquistadors extracted in the New World and shipped home. Not so different than slave labor at Ausschwitz indigenous natives perished by the millions while they worked their economic hit men's silver mines in Potosi, Bolivia. What is remarkable, however, is the insider's glimpse that Perkins supplies his readers re: the methods used by today's empire builders.

Perkins explains that "economic hit men" from this side of the water stalk their foreign quarry by preying upon the presumed corruptibility of the ruling clique/s in less developed countries. Extending a choice of "plato o plomo" the predator strikes a devil's bargain with prey who cannot refuse the offer: "We'll make you rich(-er) or we'll make you dead. Your choice." If the quarry is corrupt(-ible), then the quarry reaps riches while s/he turns a blind eye or colludes with foreign overlords who proceed to exploit economically the corrupted leader's less developed country. If the quarry is incorruptible, then assassins (what Perkins calls "jackals") take him out and the hit man's handlers find a more compliant replacement among the foreign country's ruling clique. If the blandishments of "lead or silver" cannot accomplish their purpose, then mother empire dispatches her armies in an old-fashioned colonial war to suppress the natives and exploit their natural resources.

While I wonder whether his autobiography might apppear differently to readers if Perkins had stripped-out any reference to the nefarious "Claudine," the sinister femme fatale and purported NSA operative who tutored Perkins early in his career in the black arts of becoming an "economic hit man," I believe what Perwkins confessed to is generally how empires operate and always have operated. His analysis of our foreign policy over the past 40 years fits tidily with my own recollections and analyses. Depressingly, however, unlike the quote from the Boston Herald newspaper on the back of Penquin's jacket cover, I did not find Perkins' revelations to be "astonishing" or even surprising. They were grim and "business as usual" in my book.

It's rare to observe a unicorn or a graffiti-ist who defaces a mailbox. We know history to be a tableau of crimes, but it's unusual to read first-hand the agonized recollections of a well-paid predator whose conscience got the better of him. Perkins never explains why expiating his sins is a wake-up call for us to surrender our venal behaviour and our ignorance or indifference to how empires become & remain empires. Perkins implies "what comes around, goes around," and if for no other reason we should consider the world that we will pass along to our children. If only Perkins had started raising his own children in his early 20s instead of running amok around the globe until he retired from his economic clandestine trade in his mid-30s, he might have remained poor and silently desperate like the rest of us.

Finally, I am puzzled by the many book reviewers on Amazon's pages who found Perkins' story to be not credible. There would be no disbelief if the author had presented himself as a former soldier-of-fortune who now regrets having looted and despoiled less developed countries. Why is it so hard to believe that white collar thieves in Burmuda shorts are as cunning and resourceful as burly paratroopers who drop from the sky with bayonets at the ready?

I was pretty excited when I started this book but I had to make myself finish it. His writing is dense. It tends to happen especially when the subject matter is boring already so I ended up skipping over probably 30 pages worth. It sounds like it would be awesome, that's what got me hooked, but it's boring.

I wish I read the reviews before purchasing this book. There is little to add beyond what most of other 1-star raters have already said. It's an important subject that has been tortured by a self aggrandizing individual. The are far too little facts or analysis for this book to be taken seriously. Very depressing to see an important topic presented so poorly.

I learned about John Perkins while reading a magazine article where he was interviewed and this book was mentioned. I was spellbound by the article, so I had to get this book. The title "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" is appropriate for what is written inside the pages.

Although this is a non-fiction work, the material reads almost like a diary, and sometimes even as a thriller, and yet includes enough historical facts and names to make it credible. John Perkins' intelligence and courage shows through as he writes first-hand knowledge of his job as an economic hitman. Rarely does one get to see the inside workings, the brutal honesty of what goes on in this field of work. Mr. Perkins' job sent him to such countries as Indonesia, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Columbia. His job was to forecast the economic feasibility of building up the country's infrastructure (e.g. electricity), and thus helping its economy grow.

The catch was that the labor and resources for the projects were ultimately paid by the country to the U.S. corporations involved in building the infrastructure, and not to the locals. The country's poor people did not benefit from this growth, as government money was siphoned into these projects (to the U.S.) rather than into helping the country's poor people. This was a recurring theme in Perkins' book. If a country was approached, and did not go along with these ideas, the consequences were very disturbing. Torrijos was an example.

Perkins' courage in writing this book is commendable.

Written as an autobiographical account, John Perkins, reveals that it was following the events of September 11, 2001 that he owned up to his part in U.S. empire-building. I came across this book after reading The Wal-Mart Effect, which first cracked open my denial about American corporate actions. The Confessions of an Economic Hit Man explains the subtle and ruinous, though legal behaviors, that corporatocracies employ to advance their own interests at the expense of our Republic and peoples around the globe. Following the release of this book, other economic hit men and women came forward with their personal admissions of similar accounts in another book, The Game as Old as Empire:The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption. And thereafter in John's 2007 book, The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth About Global Corruption, he continues to reveal details of the worldwide damage done by the machinations of the few. While some may still find these revelations unbelievable and prefer to continue in the path of denial, I believe most of us are waking up to our part as silent accomplices in the demise of our Republic as it is overrun by corporate and banking interests. For those who want a quick introduction, John Perkins speaks of his experiences in easily found You Tube videos -- search for Economic Hit Man. One of my favorites is the one from Talking Stick TV.

Nothing woke me out of my media-influenced stupor faster than reading these 4 books. I give them 5 stars for this reason. Waking up is no small feat for those of us numbed and dumbed down by the media corporatocracy. Don't continue in denial. Wake up, people And join the revolution to take back our Republic.

Having been born and having lived in a developing country until I was 25 -and then visiting there very often, I can say that from where those people stand and from what can be witnessed there first hand, right before people's noses, the book surely doesn't seem like fiction. As a matter of fact, it brings nothing new, it just describes what's going on.
It appears shocking and "controversial" only to western individuals (mainly Americans) who were raised in the doctrine of their country's absolute "moral superiority" who would NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER!...
Yeah, right. It takes a lot of naivete, a lot of jaded-ness, a lot of ignorance and a lot of brainwashing from birth to NOT BELIEVE what this book reveals, not to BELIEVE IT. Wake up, people. Your contemporary leaders and key players ARE mainly about unlimited greed. And then just take a look at yourselves: aren't you too, most regular, "decent" folks, about that too? Aren't you emulating them, envying them, wishing you were THEM more than anything else? Material comforts and greed at the expense of anything that's not so tangible, it's all you care about. How could anyone expect a people whose life goals are so eaten by materialism and "affluenza" (whether we talk about the rich or the less rich in the US) to perceive the nastiness of such leaders who would stop at nothing to fuel their psychological addiction to greed, expansion, acquisition and domination? Let's be serious. It doesn't take a PhD...or too much documented "evidence". The evidence is right before your eyes. Just becasue many people don't have eyes to see it (or refuse to see it) does not make it any less valid. MUST READ - but I am not optimistic...I never underestimate the power of denial.

So much stuff in here I never knew about the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. An interesting perspective from an insider.

I thought this book was very intriguing because for once someone actually stood up to the government. Growing up in the US. we're exposed to many things but the government isnt one of them. We grow up in a world thinking that the government is our friend and it isnt until we et older that we realize that in reality unless we're rich they're working against us. John Perkins gives examples of how he himself was victimized by our government. And leaves his readers with an awareness on the world they're really living in.

ps. kia

I definitely found this book worthwhile reading. The author tells of how debt through legitimate means is used to keep other nations subservient to the developed world, the U.S. in particular. It was a little tiring to keep reading about the author's dislike of his job while he did not do anything about it. But the story of "economic imperialism" is one that we should all be aware of and think about. This book is particularly timely post Iraq-war as read about the contracts Haliburton and KBR have gotten.

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" offers a compelling story and an interesting vantage point. John Perkins retells his tale as a chief economist, and his role in building of the new 'empire' - the economic kind - on part of the United States. The data is sparse, and at times the book borders on fiction, but I would not disagree that there many elements of truth in it as well. An interesting read, but also a book to be approached with a healthy dose of skepticism.

I was only a few chapters into this book when the BS became real apparent. This guy is full of himself and spreading lots of misinformation with no evidence. I worked for the US Government. The US Government is too incompetent to be responsible for the conspiratorial and other things he gives it responsibility for. He loses all credibility with me.

A MUST READ! Very well written and easy to follow. A great recap and explanation of events as well as piecing together so many events that most of us recognized but could not connect the dots. Thanks, John Perkins, for your courage to admit your role in shaping our country and dismantling other countries. The book left me disgusted, but not surprised, but also enlightened.

Many have been baffled at why developmental problems so stubbornly persist.

This book took a lot of courage for its author, partially because it is the first of its kind to go so deeply into these matters, and partially because the author had to face his own inner demons and complicity. If you find his account hard to absorb looking at other books like "A game as old as empire" will show that there are many people and many references to the facts. Authors like David C. Korten and Thom Hartmann throw some light on how things got this way, but first hand accounts like these are needed to get a sense for the underlying dynamics and impact of a large part of modern civilization.

Denial and depression are possible reactions to these revelations but another world is possible and the current one will keep on changing so I recommend following up a book like this with reading books on contributing to a better future - like the excellent "Alternatives to economic globalization"

The demise of serious alternatives to capitalism together with the global reach of modern technology and cheap oil has created an era on unprecedented corporate progress. The rise of corporate control of the commons and erosion of community control vested in and expressed through governments has fundamentally changed modern society. Much of the previous liberal vs. conservative, free market vs. socialist continuums in thinking no longer really exist in terms of actual problems facing society. The question is how modern progress can be sustained and benefits spread fairly. The free market plays a role as do governments but how can the excesses of overly concentrated power in both be prevented from short sighted global destructiveness? It is indeed a very old game that has been played many times - this time more people can give input and the stakes are arguably higher.

I think this is an OK book. It has a point of view on world politics and economics that is not very often brought up.
Some parts of the book seemed a bit naive, but overall, I would recommend it to a friend.

Perkins writes early in the book that a series of publishers offered to publish his book as fiction before he finally found one who had the "courage" (by which I can only suppose he means "obliviousness") to publish it as nonfiction. As I started reading, I thought that Perkins had been the result of horrendous editing; I repeatedly did double-takes, amazed at what the poor editor had let through.

Eventually, though, it became clear that the book was fiction, and any editor who had the misfortune of trying to massage this (literally) unbelievable tale into nonfiction would, simply put, find himself overhelmed. The characters are caricatrues: the prep school, the Markov economic theory pioneered by the author (strangely absent from all the literature) and the vision of, I kid you not, Jesus, but with a automobile axle in place of a cross.

And then there is the op-ed piece for the Boston Globe; their website does not yet have archives for the time period up, but even in the situation that he *did* write the op-ed, his explanation of why, in his situation, he wouldn't have been instantly fired, is downright lame, to the point that I literally groaned when I read it.

I wish it were the case that "you can't make this up," but in this situation, the conclusion any reader should quickly reach is that Perkins did. Suspension of disbelief is fine for fiction, and publishing this book as Fiction would have been an excellent way of making a few bucks off the "Da Vinci Code" phenomenon, and indeed that's probably a large part of the public's continued infatuation with conspiracy theories. But for any reader who doesn't suspend disbelief with this book will find themselves recognizing the constructed nature of the plot, the characters and the locales; any reader who does any fact-checking will find that Perkins' few solid statements are downright wrong.

Don't waste your money on this book. Perkins does the cause of social equality a disservice, by treating it as a meme to make a few bucks off, rather than a fundamental human desire.

Using economic hit men, the people who control America ensure US power and make huge quantities of money for the US corporations.

This is an interesting and fascinating look behind the scenes of an ethics be damned approach to making money for corporations while assuring US power over the world. Halliburton, Bechtel,and other familiar names populate the pages. As an example, they convince a small country to install an expensive infrastructure using world bank loans, then when they go broke paying for the construction, the US makes demands. Meanwhile, it's a US company that does the construction and gets the money. Pretty clever stuff and amazingly effective. Too bad it's so crooked/unethical.

I wasn't going to give this 5 stars until I read Gary's review from his sailboat. Then I decided, yeah this is not the most exhaustive analysis of the damage done by our hidden (from US) form of imperialism but it is essential reading nonetheless. It is a quick overview, through one man's experiences, of recent history we neither cannot afford to ignore nor will be allowed by the rest of the World to ignore. We turn a blind eye at our peril - e.g., 9/11 and much worse, such as peril to our own souls (for want of a better word).

I was bothered by the "fictional" feel to the book in that so many conversations were quoted and not paraphrased; I personally could not quote myself accurately from conversations that happened this morning much less 30 years ago. So, I guess one must allow some artistic license. To convey the events without quotes would bog down the book, make it less readable.

Despite the caveat mentioned, I still feel 100% sure that the author is truthful and accurate in his representations of what's been going on with globalization. All that he says accords exactly with everything else I've read in books such as "Blowback", "Sorrows of Empire", "Global Class War" and so on. And the first-person narrative style of the book makes it accessible to more people than those other books, perhaps.

So, in word, I'd say "Confessions" makes for important reading for those new to the subjects and with little time to spare (or little time they are willing to make) to read up on such a critically important subject.

The message of this book is simple and as profound as it gets. We (you, me, investors, US in general, world elites) have blood on our hands exactly as did the slavers of old; and yet we have an opportunity to make right. If we don't, all the "advantages" we've exploited will come back to haunt us much as the darkest of nightmares - the "downtrodden" will bite back and/or Nature will teach us a lesson or two we will never forget.

This book will leave your hair standing on end. A riveting piece of work; must read material for anyone trying to understand what is happening to America.

The narrative is fast paced and readable. However, in the end one is left wondering about the "facts" and what it means to us.

The book is about the author's account of his involvement in creating "large deals" and later his disillusionment with the idea of being an "Economic Hit Man."
In a sense, I think many consultants too have some self doubt about the "overall value" they help create or how their ideas actually lead towards larger goals. A few end up writing memoirs and books (like this one).

A decent read if you have some time to kill. Nothing more, nothing less.