Debt

Books | Business & Economics / Economic History

4.1

(129)

David Graeber

Now in paperback: David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: he shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.

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More Details:

Author

David Graeber

Pages

427

Publisher

Melville House

Published Date

2011-07-12

ISBN

1612190987 9781612190983

Ratings

Google: 3.5

Community ReviewsSee all

"3.5 rounded up “Money introduced a democratization of desire.” Wow, did I learn a lot! What a great combination of history, economics, philosophy, religion, linguistics, and anthropology. The inner workings of the human mind (materialism) and society is just fascinating. Under the lens of debt and the social, moral, political, and structural limitations that guide us is quite telling. This was a full bodied, holistic read investigating just that! Would have never known to debunk barter societies and understand the language of debt and its origins."

Keeks

"This is interesting and extremely informative. For the reader already annoyed by class and economic inequalities in the present day, you’ll be further annoyed to see how out of hand this development has become over the course of thousands of years to what we have now when it was a very sensible solution for payment methods/debt assessing as a way to try to find a more fair and flexible way to do things than rely on trade and barter (when you might not want/need what was readily available) in its early stages."

CaitVD

"Full review and highlights at <a href="https://books.max-nova.com/debt">https://books.max-nova.com/debt</a> Former Yale Law School professor David Graeber stuffs the controversial "Debt" with 5,000 years of fascinating anecdotes about money, morality, and violence. He’s a fantastic storyteller who manages to turn a potentially dreary subject (debt) into a sprawling jeremiad encompassing everything from ancient Sumerian law and African slavery to the conquest of the Aztecs and the US going off the gold standard. An anthropologist and a notorious anarchist, Graeber strikes a wonderfully conversational tone and he delights in attempting to refute conventional wisdom. Main topics covered are the moral ambiguity of debt, the idea that debt came before money, and that quantification of debt almost always leads to violence. It’s certainly worth a read, but I’d also recommend reading the Jacobin’s harsh critique of Graeber’s cherry-picking and misreading of his sources."