Some people have found John Perkins’ accounts in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man to be so shocking and troubling that they have questioned whether his accounts are true.  John himself has been absolutely unequivocal that everything written in the book is factual and is the true story of his life.  John has clearly and unwaveringly affirmed the veracity of his accounts numerous times: in the book itself, in every media interview that he has done, and throughout the dozens of hours that he spent working through the manuscript page-by-page with me as part of our editorial process.

Contrary to what some people have assumed, there is a great deal of evidence to support the veracity of John’s accounts in Confessions.  This evidence includes numerous historical documents (see the attached copies of some of these documents) that confirm many aspects of John’s work; extensive research that many other people have done that support most of John’s principal allegations; confirmation from one of the persons who is in the best position to validate the veracity of John’s story; and the assessments of a number of people who have had long acquaintance with John and/or who have had in-depth discussions with him about the specifics of his accounts.

1. It is indisputable that John was employed for more than nine years by Chas. T. Main, Inc.  Many documents, some of which are attached, confirm this.
2. It is indisputable that, during the time that John was employed there, Chas. T. Main (“MAIN”) was one of the largest and most internationally active firms in contracting, planning, and managing many types of development projects around the world.  Attached is a copy of the “ENR 400” rankings of “The Top 400 Contractors” in 1982 (click on the title to download the pdf).  These annual rankings were then and continue to be today leading rankings in the industry; they are compiled by ENR (also known as Engineering News Record), which is a top industry trade publication that is published by The McGraw-Hill Companies.  Chas. T. Main was the third-ranked company on the ENR 400 in 1982, with total revenues of $5.7 billion, which placed it just ahead of The Bechtel Group, Inc.  The international focus of MAIN’s development projects is demonstrated by the fact that $5.2 billion of its revenue was for foreign contracts, which was the greatest foreign contract revenue of any U.S. company on the ENR 400.
3. It is indisputable that Chas. T. Main carried on all of the types of projects in all of the countries that John details in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.  Attached is a copy of a MAIN brochure that goes into great detail about MAIN’s services and projects, which match precisely what John describes in Confessions.  There is also much further documentation of these projects in the MAIN company newsletter (Mainlines) and in articles that John wrote and speeches he gave during the period he was employed at MAIN; see, for example, the Mainlines’ story describing “a comprehensive 25-year electrification plan which would bring electricity to all the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
4. It is indisputable that John was personally involved in all of the types of projects in all of the countries that he details in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.  For example, attached are copies of articles in the MAIN company newsletter (Mainlines), articles published by Power Engineering (“The Engineering Magazine of Power Generation”), and a copy of a paper presented by John at the Fourth Iranian Conference on Engineering in 1974 that all substantiate John’s involvement in the types of projects and the countries that he details in Confessions.  Various other such articles and papers are available if more confirmation is needed of this point.