Dirty John

John Perkins’s story is somewhat fantastical. The author portrays himself as a kind of evil James Bond that does all kinds of dirty work to protect the interests of America and its companies in the international scenario.

For Perkins, it is essential that readers believe him. To achieve a good ethos, he always gives great importance to his activities, setting himself in the center of the action by saying things like: “that is what we EHMs do best: we build a global empire” (prologue p.20).

Perkins’s view on American foreign policy is very radical, therefore his tone is accusatory. This can be evidenced by the use of words like “elite”, “corporatocracy”, and “empire”.

Building Credibility

However, the author does not want to be viewed as an opinionated journalist who believes in conspiracy theories, but rather as a knowledgeable insider who has decided to come out and reveal his secrets. For creating this impression, Perkins does two things. The first is that he talks about many private aspects of his life including sex, personal thoughts, and uncomfortable experiences. This gives him a frank and honest charisma that is very effective in gaining the readers trust. At one point he writes that he “craved female companionship – sex; the idea of a slut was most alluring” (p. 5). The story reads, as many memoirs do, like a confession.


The second thing that Perkins does to better his ethos is to make every detailed observations filled with factual evidence and figures, making his arguments and point of view seem very solid and credible.



For now, I will believe the things he says.