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Confessions of an Economic Hitman

John Perkins (b. 1945 in Hanover, New Hampshire) is an activist and author. His best known and most recent book is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, an insider's account of exploitation or neo-colonialization of Third World countries by a cabal of corporations, banks, and the United States government. It was on the New York Times bestseller lists for over 40 weeks (in both hardcover and paperback).

Perkins attended Tilton Boys School for high school, Middlebury College, and Boston University during the 1960s. He spent the 1970s working for the consulting firm Chas. T. Main, where he claims he was employed after being screened by the National Security Agency (NSA) and subsequently hired by Einar Greve, a member of the firm (and alleged NSA liaison, a claim which Greve has denied). He claims to have been trained early in his career by a beautiful, older woman who was armed with the psychological profile gathered about him by the NSA after many days of pre-employment screening, as one of many "economic hit men" advancing the cause of corporate hegemony.

As a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, Perkins says that he "was an 'economic hit man' for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.

However, after several years struggling internally for the role he was playing crippling foreign economies, he quit his consulting job. For the 1980s Perkins founded and directed a successful independent energy company. In the book, Perkins states that he suspects the success of his company was due to 'coincidences' orchestrated by those appreciative of his silence about the work he did as an EHM. He then sold the energy company in the late 1980s. Since then he has been heavily involved with non-profit organizations in Ecuador and around the world. He continues this work today, in addition to his writing. One of his organizations, Dream Change, is dedicated to shifting consciousness and promoting sustainable lifestyles for the individual and global community.

• The Secret History of the American Empire
• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, ISBN 0-452-28708-1

Perkins has also written on indigenous cultures and shamanism. His books on these subjects include:

• Psychonavigation: Techniques for Travel Beyond Time, ISBN 0-89281-800-X
• Shapeshifting: Shamanic Techniques for Global and Personal Transformation, ISBN 0-89281-663-5
• The World Is As You Dream It
• The Stress-Free Habit
• The Spirit of the Shuar

Perkins is also the chair of the board of the Dream Change, "a world wide grass roots movement of people from diverse cultures and backgrounds dedicated to shifting consciousness and promoting sustainable lifestyles for the individual and global community." [1]

• Perkins' web site
• Dream Change homepage
• Support and evidence for John Perkins' account of his life from Steven Piersanti, President and Publisher, Berrett-Koehler Publishers (PDF format)
• Criticism of John Perkins' account of his life by the U.S. State Department
• Scanned documents, purported to be from Chas. T Main, regarding John Perkins' activities (PDF format)

• Video: Perkins talks about his book and activism, C-SPAN-2, Book TV, January 15, 2006.
• Big Picture TV free video clips of John Perkins
• How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions, Democracy Now, December 31, 2004.
• We Have Created the World’s First Truly Global Empire, Democracy Now, February 15, 2006
• Thomas Kiely. The Missing Link: John Perkins’s "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", Newtopia Magazine, November 2004.
• John Perkins COLLECTION at the Global Dialogue Center: personal blog, podcasts, 2005 to present

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