Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Book Review: I'm surprised John Perkins is still alive
Summary: 5 Stars
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!
Book Review: In addition to the big problems ....
Summary: 1 Stars
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?
Book Review: Must Read
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: so so
Summary: 2 Stars
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.Book Review: Significant Book
Summary: 5 Stars
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 *****