Something not for the Bookstore

Last summer I was on Catalina Island and in need of a quick read. I picked up a copy of "The Secret History of the American Empire" having a vague recollection that its predecessor "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" had received favorable reviews.

The story begins:

I was ready to rape and pillage when I headed to Asia in 1971. At twenty-six, I felt cheated by life. I wanted to take revenge.

I am certain, in retrospect, that rage earned me my job. Hours of psychological testing by teh National Secutity Agency identified me as a potential economic hitman.

Thinking back on my decision to buy this book, the dissonance of these first few sentences should have tipped me off. What, exactly, at 26 makes you feel cheated by life? Is this the kind of fellow the NSA chooses - an ex-Peace Corps draft dodger - to wreak havoc on the economies of Latin american countries? Someone who cut his literary teeth on Paine and Jefferson? A conservative who believes the founding ideals of America are "justice and equality for all?"

From its first pages, this book seems contrived. Just for the record:

(i) The NSA is our listening service. Although it is certainly a very specialized and secretive organization, I'm not sure they are hiring "economic hit-men" as field operatives.
(ii) The book perpetuates the idea that the Peace Corps is really a CIA cover. I've known a number of Peace Corps volunteers and they just don't fit the mold. Unless the US government is getting very tricky indeed and hiring lots of biology majors to further their nefarious goals.
(iii) Apart from the importance of what they wrote, are Paine and Jefferson "literary" figures? I'm not sure anyone reads them as literature.
(iv) Are there any conservatives that actually have read Jefferson or Paine?
(v) Since when were the ideals of conservatives "justice and equality for all"?

The book reads like a set-up. I don't particularly like the notion that American economic and political interests may be achieved at others' expense. But it seems natural to me that we make use of the advantages we have. That is not a conspiracy, that is just life. I get the impression that John Perkins' intended audience is a little confused. You'd have to be to take this book at face value. I get the impression the author is confused as well.

I should have been tipped off by the jacket cover recommendations by Sting, Howard Zinn and John Gray - each someone for whom generality is crafted as reality. What they miss is an appreciation of human motivations and a willingness to broadly - as opposed to generally (hint- the difference is judicious scholarship) - assess the world as it is and not as it is presented.

Anyway, this was a book for the recycling bin. I can't honestly recommend it to anyone.