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The Profiteers
- Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From the best-selling coauthor of The Money and the Power, the inside story of the Bechtel family and the empire they've controlled since the construction of the Hoover Dam.
The tale of the Bechtel family dynasty is a classic American business story. It begins with Warren A. "Dad" Bechtel, who led a consortium that constructed the Hoover Dam. From that auspicious start, the family and its eponymous company would go on to build the world, from the construction of airports in Hong Kong and Doha to pipelines and tunnels in Alaska and Europe to mining and energy operations around the globe. Today Bechtel is one of the largest privately held corporations in the world, enriched and empowered by a long history of government contracts and the privatization of public works, made possible by an unprecedented revolving door between its San Francisco headquarters and Washington. Bechtel executives John McCone, Caspar Weinberger, and George P. Shultz segued from leadership at the company to positions as director of the CIA, secretary of defense, and secretary of state, respectively.
Like all stories of empire building, the rise of Bechtel presents a complex and riveting narrative. In The Profiteers, Sally Denton exposes Bechtel's secret world and one of the biggest business and political stories of our time.
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What listeners say about The Profiteers
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- TruthInAdvertising
- 07-31-16
A Real History of Modern Power & Politics
This is one of those rare tomes that provides a lense into an entire epoch, through a focus on one historical figure: in this case, the entire Bechtel dynasty. While the other books attempt to chronicle the rise of a family, The Profiteers tells us about the rise of American power in the 20th century, and to the present day. Fascinating at many levels, a Must Read.
7 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 03-29-18
Your Liberal Bias is showing
The book is very well researched and facts intensive. However, the author is extremely bias toward the left. I was glad to have listened, but I wish she had not forced political viewpoints instead of allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions.
9 people found this helpful
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- Eduards J. Vucins
- 12-13-16
Slanted
Extremely slanted, difficult to read due to frequent personal bias expressed by the author. It would have been interesting, if it were present without comments.I gave up after about 50% of the book.
6 people found this helpful
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- Jer
- 09-09-21
Woke author
Author is determined to put down capitalism, Republicans, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking. If you enjoy listening to Bush bashing then you’d like this one.
2 people found this helpful
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- Humberto
- 07-06-21
Very good listen
Profiteers was an easy listen. Very informative and insightful into the world of private companies and government relationships. Highly recommend
2 people found this helpful
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- T. Jones
- 12-24-21
Leftist Crap
The author clearly has some kind of pathological dislike for Bechtel Corp. There is nothing balanced about her writing that oozes condescension out of every chapter. I had to give up about 1/3 of the way through this book.
1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-14-21
Not recommended - too long- uninspiring
This 15 hour story, although factual presents a dump of information on the history of this family. It is too long & did not inspire me. I only finished it because I was 3-4 hours into it. Recommend to history buffs only!
1 person found this helpful
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- AT
- 08-25-21
New title “A political hit piece “
The company deals in government contracts/politics and thus has red in its ledger, but this is ridiculous. The author is obviously very liberal and it shows. All R’s are bad and all D’s are good! Poorly researched and full of opinion pieces, just wanted the story!!! Don’t waste your time, if you are looking for politics from either side there are better options!
1 person found this helpful
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- t
- 06-20-21
Just the facts
Many reviews state the author presents bias; however, my interpretation of the author's tone is one of neutrality–she is presenting only facts.
RE: the reviews concerning political entanglement–
Yes, this is difficult to follow, but again, the author is presenting only facts, there is no leaning in any political direction.
The author has done a wonderful job of researching a very private company and presenting a clear image of how it became entwined with the government. Worth the time investment.
1 person found this helpful
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- Dale Sarver
- 05-22-22
an interesting story but highly biased
this is a hit piece on Bechter. there is a lot of interesting and historical information but it is presented in a highly biases way. this would be a very good story if presented in a more objective manner. nonetheless I enjoyed it.