Debt – Updated and Expanded by David Graeber

$7.99

Debt - Updated and Expanded

  • The First 5,000 Years
  • By: David Graeber
  • Narrated by: Grover Gardner
  • Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
  • Categories: History

Publisher's Summary

Now in audio, the updated and expanded edition: 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.

©2014 David Graeber (P)2015 Gildan Media LLC

Customer Reviews

1-5 of 2 reviews

  • Reuben Schwarz

    some interesting bits but too long and opinionated

    loved the bus about other cultures and the ride of credit and debt and money. but too much basic and misleading analysis of current and historical events especially toward the end.

    3 people found this helpful

    November 1, 2018
  • Jack Fleming

    Money a history from someone who isn’t an econ

    I found this an interesting, money, credit and debt are always examined through the lens of economics. So in that regard it was quite refreshing to hear about these concepts from a different perspective. However I personally found the argument unpersuasive. however I would still recommend this book for those who are interested in economics as it’s an alternative view point that is well articulated and is at the very least an interesting narrative.

    2 people found this helpful

    November 1, 2018

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