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 enlarge | Author: John Perkins
Publisher: Plume
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $5.83
You Save: $9.17 (61%)
New (59) Used (73) Collectible (6) from $5.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  636 reviews
Sales Rank: 481
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0452287081
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.042092
EAN: 9780452287082
ASIN: 0452287081
Publication Date: December 27, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: HARDCOVER. Clean pages. In Good DJ. We ship fast!
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| Customer Reviews:
 uncerainty September 8, 2008
After reading this book I am confused as to why this person want us to believe that he was able to to fool so many people around the world. Does he want us to believe that most of the world cannot see through the Ameican way?
 No economic info here September 6, 2008
Nothing special about economic indicators, or how to observe the hitmens behavior in economics, but more so a life history of the authers growth in this craft. The book was entertaining, but I wanted information, about the imf, C-banks and so on. So if your looking for an informative educational book one star, if you want entertainment, and to learn about the author 5 stars. Good reading.
 Unbridled Capitalism & Foreign Policy September 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The author gives us a rare insight into how the US conducts "foreign policy" that primarily benefits US corporate/conglomerate profit interests. Similar to the US "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961, the author sounds a warning about how narrow monied interests guide the conduct of foreign "assistance" and "relations" so that the public interests, in both the US and the "target" country are ill-served. This is a MUST READ for American voters and the new generation of elected decision-makers.
act out of your conscience or live the consequences August 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
there are many great, kind and charitable americans. the presidents and the government represented american....
for years, as now everyone knows that there was no nuclear weapon found in iraq, haliburton is still making great money. people like bush family, dick cheney have a lot to do with this company. they made great money. they were the one declaring war. and they were the ones making friends with the dictators of the world. look where it has got america and the world. i hope McCain will not win. and obviously the lady running mate of his. with all due respect, someone who has little education, and pro-live and pro-gun. imagine the future of america and the world in the hands of these duo.
this book is an eye opener. the view it presented has tied in with the facts i have previously known.
american should care more about the rest of the world and the action of their leaders. indifference can otherwise be very costly
Great Thesis - No Proof August 25, 2008
Mr. Perkins has a great thesis and great angst about his role in the world. His thesis is simple - American engineering and oil companies go to third world countries and give hugely inflated estimates of growth potential. Using those inflated numbers, they induce the countries to get loans so they can hire the American companies to do the work. The country then is unable to repay the loan. The theory implicates American companies, the many politicians with ties to them and the World Bank, IMF and other financial institutions.
Unfortunately, Mr. Perkins fails to come up with the proofs. His outline appears feasible, but he never gives any instances of the loan and default portion of the thesis. There is nary a number or statistic to back him up. He does not cite a single defaulted loan.
Further, Mr. Perkins often draws parellels to the American Founders and our Revolution. His grasp of American history is sophomoric at best. He uses a cartoonish image of 1776 that one would expect from an elementary school student, not someone indicting corporations, international banks and presidential administrations.
Mr. Perkins does have some sources and they are noted. Again, they occasionally show his sloppiness with the facts. In one instance, he states with firmness that the Reagan and Bush administrations had been proven to have dirtied their hands in this corporatocracy (his term) scheme. The text said this was proven by testimony. When one checks the note, the testimony was by John Dean in 1973 and 1974 - six and seven years before the Reagan and Bush administrations. Such errors in fact and use of bad history undermine the reader's confidence in the basic theory of the book.
That all having been said, the book does show how America's corporations have gone into Third World countries focused only on their own bottom line. Their is no altruism in the corporate world. This pure greed is aided and abetted by connected politicians.
Most interesting are his accounts of the American-Saudi relationship where the corporate scheme worked with oil money rather than World Bank funds. Although Perkins seemed to criticize the plan, it worked well for both sides. It was a true win-win. Somehow, the author tried to tie in the Saudis' support of terrorism with its modernization and westernization. The parallel did not work - especially since he had given Saudi Arabia's history of being founded by fundamentalist Islamists long before the corporations came in. Mr. Perkins then tried to draw another parallel to Iraq. Unfortunately, he could never explain why the system that worked so well for Saudi Arabia did not work for Iraq.
There are some alarming aspects of this book and it really does read, in parts, like a novel. Alarm is what Mr. Perkins expects to raise with his "Confession". There is a lot to look at behind his accounts. Sadly, Mr. Perkins just did not deliver the goods to prove his points.
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