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A review by kosr
The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How America really took over the world by John Perkins
4.0
The Hitmen and the Jackals
This is a mixed bag for sure. I came close to giving it a three star, but pulled back after reading the documentation record at the back. I'm glad I stay by my own motto when it comes to reading: there's always something to be learned.
The positives and negatives are pretty polarising here, however, the former of the two stand out a mile ahead than the later. At least in my view.
Perkins was an insider, you really can't get closer than that when it comes to reading about concentrated power. As such, there's some real gems here that are very insightful and useful when it comes to understanding what's being implemented up in the echelons of multinational corporate power. This expanded addition really opens up more on what's happening in this decade also, the rise of China being a big one.
The negatives are that Perkins is - to be truthful and blunt - not a great writer. I say this from the heart as I have never written a book, so can't really throw stones from my glass house, however it does play a factor within these pages with regards to trusting and recommend this to others.
There are moments when reading this book that I found myself slightly overwhelmed by Perkins apparent omnipotence to events taking place in his life. He infuses a lot of sensational and borderline psychic aspects to his chapters, and it does feel as though he is trying to achieve two things.
1. Redemption through writing.
2. Convey the horror of 'the system' as simply as possible to uninitiated readers (people he clearly wants to read his book the most).
As such, it does take some wilful ignorance to just act as though every encounter he describes in this book was an eye opening experience for himself, or that (for the hundreth time), he felt debilitating guilt at every turn and day that went by during his former EHM years. It made me sceptical of this account especially when he recreates dialogue that practically sounds James Bond villianesque at times (see point 2. above as to why I think this is). It gets in the way of telling a conciece, unexposed truth, when, as an author, you are unable to withhold your desire to remind your reader how guilty you feel within nearly every chapter of your book. It's exhausting.
However, this IS something I can see myself recommending to a few people who really don't follow anything remotely like what Perkins highlights. Also, the documentation at the end of the book - as mentioned above - is a treasure trove of interesting articles regarding corporate greed, indebted nations and banker swindling that I will be looking at well after closing this.
Other recommended books to present to people who may be in need of a wake up:
1. Against Empire - Michael Parenti
2. A Peoples History of the United States - Howard Zinn
3. America: The Farewell Tour - Chris Hedges
This is a mixed bag for sure. I came close to giving it a three star, but pulled back after reading the documentation record at the back. I'm glad I stay by my own motto when it comes to reading: there's always something to be learned.
The positives and negatives are pretty polarising here, however, the former of the two stand out a mile ahead than the later. At least in my view.
Perkins was an insider, you really can't get closer than that when it comes to reading about concentrated power. As such, there's some real gems here that are very insightful and useful when it comes to understanding what's being implemented up in the echelons of multinational corporate power. This expanded addition really opens up more on what's happening in this decade also, the rise of China being a big one.
The negatives are that Perkins is - to be truthful and blunt - not a great writer. I say this from the heart as I have never written a book, so can't really throw stones from my glass house, however it does play a factor within these pages with regards to trusting and recommend this to others.
There are moments when reading this book that I found myself slightly overwhelmed by Perkins apparent omnipotence to events taking place in his life. He infuses a lot of sensational and borderline psychic aspects to his chapters, and it does feel as though he is trying to achieve two things.
1. Redemption through writing.
2. Convey the horror of 'the system' as simply as possible to uninitiated readers (people he clearly wants to read his book the most).
As such, it does take some wilful ignorance to just act as though every encounter he describes in this book was an eye opening experience for himself, or that (for the hundreth time), he felt debilitating guilt at every turn and day that went by during his former EHM years. It made me sceptical of this account especially when he recreates dialogue that practically sounds James Bond villianesque at times (see point 2. above as to why I think this is). It gets in the way of telling a conciece, unexposed truth, when, as an author, you are unable to withhold your desire to remind your reader how guilty you feel within nearly every chapter of your book. It's exhausting.
However, this IS something I can see myself recommending to a few people who really don't follow anything remotely like what Perkins highlights. Also, the documentation at the end of the book - as mentioned above - is a treasure trove of interesting articles regarding corporate greed, indebted nations and banker swindling that I will be looking at well after closing this.
Other recommended books to present to people who may be in need of a wake up:
1. Against Empire - Michael Parenti
2. A Peoples History of the United States - Howard Zinn
3. America: The Farewell Tour - Chris Hedges