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Whistle Stopper - The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $8.80
Your Save: $ 6.20 ( 41% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Plume
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 337
EAN: 9780452289574
ISBN: 0452289572
Label: Plume
Manufacturer: Plume
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2008-04-29
Publisher: Plume
Studio: Plume
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A good primer
Comment: I just finished this book after having previously read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". Perkins does a good job of relating his personal experience and opens the door to a world that most people don't know exist.
When I read "Confessions of and Economic Hitman", I went away hungry for more information and details. This made me really look forward to reading this book. "The Secret History of the American Empire" builds on "Confessions" in narrative form. It is footnoted, but does not rely heavily on outside sources to substantiate the author's perspective. This is "Secret History's" drawback. Still, John Perkins never claims in either of this book or "Confessions" that his intention is to extensively back his experience with outside sources. He simply tells his story from his perspective and recommends a path forward.
It tells a shocking story in a very sincere way, but, for greater understanding of the subject matter, I would recommend a book with a more academic approach. Regardless, this book is a great starting point for those seeking to better understand the world.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Time to Take the Red Pill....!
Comment: Funny how all the deniers and thos who rate this author's books as "impossible" or "a fabrication" do so, I am willing to bet, from the comfort of having never left their own zip code. How can it be, if their scred "free market" and the government are forces of "freedom and justice"???
As a fomer officer of the Guatemalan Army, charged at one time with guarding those "advisers" and "experts" recommended by the US Embassy, witnessing the granting of unfathomable amounts of money and visas to the US for ministers and their families, as rewards for granting this or that contract to a selected few companies, I can assure you everything Perkins says is true. For those who ask for ironclad proof, it should be an invitation to get off their behinds and do some research of their own, the facts are out there but that would be too much to ask. There is a saying in Guatemala: No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver. "The worst kind of blindness is the one that refuses to see"
I really despair when I see the situation the country and the world are in nowadays and still there are those who claim it's all good. But as far as these books, they are an eye opener to how business is REALLY done outside the golf and country clubs of the US.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the shadow side of US foreign affairs, with a hopeful invitation
Comment: The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World
In the post-1984 world of doublethink press (Wikipedia-To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them), the only way we have of knowing what our military, our government, and the very large segment of our society living as camp followers around the world are doing, is to hear from disaffected career professionals who choose to come out of the closet and share the dark side of their career work. John Perkins, who began his career in the Peace Corps, and went on to be tempted by the lush lifestyle as an agent for the IMF-Worldbank / corporate engineering collusion indenturing a long list of trusting 3rd world countries trying to rise out of colonialism, has now come full circle to work connecting awakening Americans with indigenous peoples who are now finding creative new ways of responding to the pressures of US global hegemony, through his Dream Change Coalition. For those of us who believe in the US Constitutional declarations of liberty, this is a must read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Secret History of the American Empire
Comment: Anyone who wants a glimpse of the tactics used to control other countries needs to read this book. The methods reveal the depths to which the power structure will go to acquire whatever resources they want. The CIA works for Wall Street and the multinational corporations. This is a part of the dark side of US foreign policy. It's difficult to support this kind of activity.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than Confessions of an Economic Hitman
Comment: The original was an eye opening experience that told me that I should get a better education on this all important subject. This book is the perfect vehicle for filling in the voids left by the original Confessions.....
The level of detail in this book is superior to the original. It also spends considerable time discussing the exploitation of African countries. The original, Confessions, focused on Latin America and the Middle East.
Where this book really separates itself from the original is in talking about what other concerned citizens are doing and making suggestions for what the reader can do. If you don't decide to take some action yourself, you ought to trade your heart in for a precious stone. Then barter your mind for a worthless stone as the two have equal value.
Confessions wakes you up. Secret History gives you a map and a destination.
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Editorial Reviews:
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A riveting exposé of international corruption—and what we can do about it, from the author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. In his stunning memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins detailed his former role as an “economic hit man” in the international corporate skullduggery of a de facto American Empire. This riveting, behind-the-scenes exposé unfolded like a cinematic blockbuster told through the eyes of a man who once helped shape that empire. Now, in The Secret History of the American Empire, Perkins zeroes in on hot spots around the world and, drawing on interviews with other hit men, jackals, reporters, and activists, examines the current geopolitical crisis. Instability is the norm: It’s clear that the world we’ve created is dangerous and no longer sustainable. How did we get here? Who’s responsible? What good have we done and at what cost? And what can we do to change things for the next generations? Addressing these questions and more, Perkins reveals the secret history behind the events that have created the American Empire, including:
• The current Latin-American revolution and its lessons for democracy
• How the “defeats” in Vietnam and Iraq benefited big business
• The role of Israel as “Fortress America” in the Middle East
• Tragic repercussions of the IMF’s “Asian Economic Collapse”
• U.S. blunders in Tibet, Congo, Lebanon, and Venezuela
• Jackal (CIA operatives) forays to assassinate democratic presidents
From the U.S. military in Iraq to infrastructure development in Indonesia, from Peace Corps volunteers in Africa to jackals in Venezuela, Perkins exposes a conspiracy of corruption that has fueled instability and anti-Americanism around the globe. Alarming yet hopeful, this book provides a compassionate plan to reimagine our world.
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