Confessions of an Economic Hitman

By: John Perkins

Narrated by: Brian Emerson

Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the inside story of how America turned from a respected republic into a feared empire.

"Economic hit men," John Perkins writes, "are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder."

John Perkins should know; he was an economic hit man. His job was to convince countries that are strategically important to the U.S., from Indonesia to Panama, to accept enormous loans for infrastructure development and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. Saddled with huge debts, these countries came under the control of the United States government, World Bank, and other U.S.-dominated aid agencies that acted like loan sharks, dictating repayment terms and bullying foreign governments into submission.

This extraordinary real-life tale exposes international intrigue, corruption, and little-known government and corporate activities that have dire consequences for American democracy and the world.

Listen to John Perkins discuss the book on To the Best of Our Knowledge.

©2004 John Perkins (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Challenging biography

This is a very well-written account of a man working for a powerful international corporation working alongside the US government to exploit vulnerable nations around the world. I didn’t agree with every conclusion he drew from the situations he saw, but his narrative is powerfully challenging to my own worldview of what has really gone on behind the scenes of the USA’s international dealings of the last 50 years. I realize I have been wrong about quite a number of things, and I’m much better off for having read this.

Ground breaking!

What an amazing book, draws a clear line in the sand and ends with a profound call to action. Inspired me to change career paths.

Eye opening and informative

I had a suspicion about the insidious nature of the economic systems described in this book. But to have a suspicion, and to have it spelled out in plain English, are two very different things. I am very glad to have finished this book. A fantastic read.

Fascinating… and outlandish

This is great storytelling, done well with Brian Emerson narrating. As some have pointed out, Emerson’s inflections, particularly at the ends of many sentences and, presumably, paragraphs, are odd… but the book is odd, so it kinda fits IMO.

The overall story is “entertaining” in a way. As many reviewers state, the author is clearly enamored with his narcissistic self. His self-flagellating “confessions” of “guilt” don’t match the veracity of his self-aggrandizing claims of involvement in not one, or even a half-dozen, world-and-its-peoples changing events & processes, but seemingly dozens. And that’s where the tale falls flat. It’s just not believable.

As a born-on-the-Fourth-of-July, white, male, Christian, red-blooded, middle-class, public school edumacated [sic], American Marine veteran, somewhat successful professional banker, real estate broker and small businessman, I don’t want it to be as true as it probably is — and yet, also *know* that it simply cannot be accepted as presented.

Is it an autobiography? A sober, accurate account of corporate greed’s all-pervasive web of deception run amok?

I don’t believe it’s any of those things outright — I’m not that naïve.

Neither am I so naïve that I believe it is patently false, an entire work of fiction, an anti-globalist, anti-American, anti-corporate screed chock full of lies.

Let me put it this way: while I wanted to say, “nah, this is bull****, no way…”, it was told so well that I could not put it down. That’s what I mean by “entertaining”.

Fascinating in that, and in how, it opened me to very different perspectives. Outlandish if taken at face value — just too much for one man, periodt. [sic]

Enjoy it. Make some thoughtful changes in your life — in your thinking — because of its lessons. But don’t go off the deep end. It simply cannot be taken at face value, without a large shaker of salt. So don’t do that. Be forewarned, though: I can see why one who wants to believe it would.

Another Point of View

Although skeptical at first, I did find the information/story interesting, intriguing, and enlightening.
I do recommend reading / listening to this book!

If this is real be afraid.

This, if 100% factual reveals that there are powers at play that the average person is completely unaware of. You owe it to yourself and all future generations to hear this book and understand the way the world works. Once the curtain is lifted the realisation is confronting unfortunately.

Frightening... Disturbing...

A first-person nonfiction book always requires a balance between the experiences of the individual and the importance of the experience. In this case, I think sometimes the author was too involved in his own confession. I grew tired of hearing how bad he was and how terrible his motivations were...

The perspective was very interesting and I have thought frequently about his perspective on the World Bank and charity. The U.S. lifestyle is not the only option. But there is something to be said for clean water and food distribution.

And a bill is only valuable if someone actually pays it....

Follow the Money!

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

That our "honorable" politicians even stoop to murder for money and power, while claiming to be helping the poor and needy citizens of the world.

Any additional comments?

I've suspected ulterior government motives for decades. This book gives details that make perfect sense as to why we have our tentacles in every corner of the world - enriching the already rich at taxpayer expense.

Somewhat informative

It's always hard to swallow a pill from an extremely rich guy turned hippy dippy because he saw the heirs of the Corporate world in the exploitation of other countries. the information as to how an economic hit man works was somewhat useful in dated information if best. the author three quarters of the way through the book admits to this. So if I was going to publish this book I would have named it Confessions of an economic hitman 1960's through the1980's. But I suspect that title may have been a little long.

Disturbing but necessary.

John Perkins "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" is essentially his autobiography. While some readers have accused this author of simply being a conspiracy theorist, his claims make way to believable facts that many of us would love to believe false, but being intelligent, know otherwise.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to get some insight into "behind the scenes government policy." Take from it what you want, it is what it is. It's certainly worth a credit.