• Listen to the entire program

A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption – Hard cover book – $100

GUESTS: Antonia Juhasz, visiting scholar at Institute for Policy Studies, and contributer to “A Game as Old as Empire,” Steven Hiatt, editor of “A Game as Old as Empire”

In 2004, a man named John Perkins wrote a book called “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.” In it, he detailed how “EHMs” like him were tasked with convincing poor countries around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money from the loans ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. John Perkins spent 20 years writing the book, and accepted a few large bribes not to write. Eventually, inspired by the tragedy of 9/11, he published the account of his life. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man became an instant hit, reaching to the tops of best sellers lists, including the New York Times. But major media would not touch the book. Many national TV shows canceled interviews at the last minute. KPFK and Pacifica had no such problems and in 2004 we covered the book with a full length interview and offered it as a thank you gift in a subsequent fund drive.

Now, several years later, we present the first follow up book to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, containing the experiences of several Economic Hit Men, emboldened by Perkins’ courage. The new book is called “A Game as Old as Empire,” and it hits book stores on April 9th. Today, in an exclusive first interview, we’ll discuss this much-anticipated follow up book to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

My Country, My Country – DVD – $100

GUEST: Laura Poitras, New York based Peabody award-winning film maker of My Country, My Country, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary

My Country, My Country is an intimate portrait of occupied Iraq, focusing on an Iraqi man named Dr. Riyadh, and his family. Riyadh is a doctor and was a Sunni political candidate in the January 2005 elections in Iraq. While he is extremely critical of the US occupation, he is equally passionate about the need to establish democracy in Iraq. Laura Poitras worked alone in Iraq for over eight months making this extraordinary film. Her last film, Flag Wars, a documentary about gentrification in Columbus, Ohio, won numerous awards including the Peabody, and Best Documentary award at the 2003 South by Southwest film festival. It was also nominated for a 2004 Independent Spirit Award and a 2004 Emmy Award. My Country, My Country has also garnered her international attention, with nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards and Academy Award for Best Documentary.