During college I came across numerous critiques and debates over the negative aspects of globalization on "emerging countries" in how often times quality of life is worsened, not improved for the local populous. In this respect, Perkins's insights are not revolutionary. However, his discussion of how unchecked personal greed leads to the intertwining of political and financial interests to create a new global empire is fascinating. This new global empire, deemed the "corporatocracy", seeks to advance the interests of unbridled capitalism (read: corporate greed) through a combination of economic and military pressures. What's truly fascinating, and frankly shocking, is that this omnipresent greed is often not the work of handful conspirators, but rather the product of a system that equates materialism and consumption with economic and social development. That's not to say there aren't appalling examples of cloak and dagger conspiracies and purposeful manipulations, such as American support of the House of Saud, the Panamanian invasion, support for the Iranian Shah, and Halliburton in Iraq, but the truly sickening examples are the pervasive and far more subtle manipulations engendered by a system driven by consumption. This book exposes how special interest groups manipulate perception to advance personal interests at the expense of long-term national security and global stability.This book is not "political" in the sense that it is a criticism of the current administration, or favors Democrats over Republicans, but rather is an indictment of all drivers of global empire, which includes government, media, and finance heads across the political spectrum. Moreover, this is not a criticism of America as some might suggest. It is a criticism of a perversion of the American ideals of freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness with the pursuit of ever-increasing consumption. This consumption fuels our need for natural resources, which in turn drives our foreign and economic policies leading to corruption and abuse of our power as the world's sole Super Power. It helps illuminate how this abuse has created many of America's enemies, because our dependence on foreign resources has forced us to create this global empire with little regard for those we seek to bring into our spheres of influence. This unsustainable empire building poses far greater risks to the U.S. than any individual terrorist or rogue nation threat because it is this reckless imperialism that destroys empires. Confessions of an EHM is essential reading to understand how the greed of our past continues to drive the current geopolitical instability. Open your eyes to prevent history repeating itself for the next generation!