You may recall two weeks ago, I took some shots at a NYTBR Malcolm Gladwell profile for being about a year late. Yesterday, the Times business section showed the Review how to do "news about the culture" that isn't ancient history with a cover story on "economic hit man" John Perkins (left, as photographed by Peter Thompson for the Times). Sure, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man has been out just as long as Blink has, but while Gladwell's success book was both expected and instantaneous, the idea that Perkins's memoir would become a hit was implausible until the sales began to snowball over 2005 and then exploded when Penguin put out the paperback last month. (And, to be honest, I still can't see how it happened; the PW review describing Confesssions as "a personal crisis of conscience blown up to monstrous proportions, casting Perkins as a victim not only of his own neuroses over class and money but of dark forces beyond his control," perfectly sums up my reaction.)

In addition to its timeliness, Landon Thomas, Jr.'s article also benefits from its willingness to move past Perkins and explore the themes he's tapping into, from finanical confessionals to anti-corporate sentiment, and talk to other writers. About the only thing I wish he'd done is follow up on some signals at another potential angle to Perkins's story: Here's a guy who's reading at a "New Age bookstore" in Chicago, and his track record before Confessions consists of "self-help books about using shamanic techniques to get ahead in life," which is an awfully bland description of titles like Psychonavigation: Techniques for Travel Beyond Time, many of which were published by Destiny Books, perhaps the most metaphysically (or even occultically) inclined division of Inner Traditions. Thomas does highlight the wacky conspiracy theory side of Perkins, but what if a writer who's being touted as a commentating peer of Thomas Friedman or Jeffrey Sachs had more in common with Paolo Coelho and Carlos Castaneda? Now that would be interesting fare for the business section...or, for that matter, for the Book Review. But that's a small quibble for what really is some solid journalism about books dovetailing into broader cultural trends.