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By John Perkins.
This guy was recruited by an engineering consulting group right out of school, and was basically paid to study third world interests, justify the need for nations such as Iran, Panama and Indonesia to accept huge loans for "development" from the US/IMF, in order to be permanently indebted to US corporate interests.
He talks about the Bush ties to United Fruit and Bechtel, and about hos this whole system is based on the post-Colombus model of imperialsim, but has been refined into a global empire machine since the end of WW2.
He doesn't really say anything too unfamiliar, at least in an abstract way, to most progressives, but it's a very interesting read nonetheless, and the chapters about how he ended up as Chief Economist/Hit Man for Chas. T Main Inc., and what made him "come clean" are a fascinating loo into how academics can be lured into globally destructive institutions. Also of interest is the difficulty which he encountered getting the book published, with most of the major houses saying "love it...it's a story that needs to be told...but we wouldn't dare..."
Some of his personal accounts are funny, some sad, and some a little far-fetched, but it's a good, quick hammock read... I'm only about a third of the way through it, but I can't put it down.
Berrett/Koehler publishers, ISBN 1-57675-301-8
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