The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Conspiracy buffs are most likely to enjoy this updated version of a memoir that was a surprise bestseller in 2004; others, even those who believe that American economic policies have not been an unmitigated good for the developing world, will find Perkins’s allegations unpersuasive. In 1971, Perkins, a business school graduate who had served in the Peace Corps, was approached by a mysterious recruiter assigned to “mold” him into a so-called economic hit man (EHM). EHMs were charged with encouraging world leaders to “become part of a vast network that promotes U.S. commercial interests,” ensnaring those leaders “in a web of debt.” This revised version, he states, was written to answer the thousands of emails he received from readers interested in what they could do to resist. But while Perkins devotes an entire chapter to the topic, even admirers who believe Perkins’s unsubstantiated accounts of U.S. involvement in the assassination of Central American leaders will scratch their heads at his advice. Having created a list of ways to spread social justice, Perkins prefaces it with the incongruous injunction to “Enjoy the process. Follow your bliss. Make it fun.”[em] (Feb.) [/em]