The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World

Journalist Denton (The Money and the Power) is no stranger to digging into controversial topics; her new offering delves into the U.S. military-industrial complex, particularly the Bechtel Corporation, the family who founded it in 1898, their major engineering and construction works, and their close ties to the government. Several Bechtel executives segued into high-level government positions and vice versa, though Bechtel's only interest in politics occurs when an issue affects their company directly, as they have billions of dollars of government contracts from countries throughout the world. As Denton points out, "observers consider Bechtel either a brilliant triumph or an iconic symbol of grotesque capitalism," and she makes a persuasive argument for the latter. The author's journalistic writing style is fast paced, hard-hitting, and engaging. If one criticism must be made, it is that scattered throughout is information about the Jonathan Pollard espionage case, in which Pollard passed classified information to Israel about neighboring Middle Eastern countries. Several Bechtel executives-turned-Washington heavy-hitters were part of the reason Pollard's sentence was so harsh; however, Denton's inclusion of these details—while interesting—felt like an ongoing aside rather than a well-integrated part of the narrative.