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Debt: The First 5,000 Years

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Debt: The First 5,000 Years,Updated and Expanded
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Book details

  1. Print length
    544 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Melville House
  4. Publication date
    November 27, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    5.63 x 1.48 x 8.36 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1612191290
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1612191294
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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.

Review

Winner of the Bateson Book Prize awarded by the Society for Cultural Anthropology

“One of the year’s most influential books. Graeber situates the emergence of credit within the rise of class society, the destruction of societies based on ‘webs of mutual commitment’ and the constantly implied threat of physical violence that lies behind all social relations based on money.” —Paul Mason, THE GUARDIAN

 “The book is more readable and entertaining than I can indicate... It is a meditation on debt, tribute, gifts, religion and the false history of money. Graeber is a scholarly researcher, an activist and a public intellectual. His field is the whole history of social and economic transactions.” —Peter Carey, THE OBSERVER

"An alternate history of the rise of money and markets, a sprawling, erudite, provocative work."
—Drake Bennett, BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK

"[A]n engaging book. Part anthropological history and part provocative political argument, it's a useful corrective to what passes for contemporary conversation about debt and the economy."
—Jesse Singal, BOSTON GLOBE

"Fresh... fascinating... Graeber’s book is not just thought-provoking, but also exceedingly timely."
—Gillian Tett, FINANCIAL TIMES (London)

"Remarkable."
—Giles Fraser, BBC RADIO 4

"Terrific... In the best anthropological tradition, he helps us reset our everyday ideas by exploring history and other civilizations, then boomeranging back to render our own world strange, and more open to change."
—Raj Patel, THE GLOBE AND MAIL

"An amazing debut – conversational, pugnacious, propulsive"
—TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION (UK)

"Graeber's book has forced me to completely reevaluate my position on human economics, its history, and its branches of thought. A Marxism without Graeber's anthropology is beginning to feel meaningless to me."
—Charles Mudede, THE STRANGER

"The world of borrowing needs a little demystification, and David Graeber's Debt is a good start."
—THE L MAGAZINE

"Controversial and thought-provoking, an excellent book."
—BOOKLIST

"This timely and accessible book would appeal to any reader interested in the past and present culture surrounding debt, as well as broad-minded economists."
—LIBRARY JOURNAL

Praise for David Graeber

“I consider him the best anthropological theorist of his generation from anywhere in the world.”
—Maurice Bloch, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics

"A brilliant, deeply original political thinker."
—Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell

“If anthropology consists of making the apparently wild thought of others logically compelling in their own cultural settings and intellectually revealing of the human condition, then David Graeber is the consummate anthropologist. Not only does he accomplish this profound feat, he redoubles it by the critical task—now more urgent than ever—of making the possibilities of other people’s worlds the basis for understanding our own.”
—Marshall Sahlins, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago

About the Author

David Graeber teaches anthropology at the London School of Economics. He has written for Harper’s, The Nation, Mute, and The New Left Review. In 2006, he delivered the Malinowski Memorial Lecture at the London School of Economics, an annual talk that honors “outstanding anthropologists who have fundamentally shaped the study of culture.” One of the original organizers of Occupy Wall Street, Graeber has been called an “anti-leader of the movement” by Bloomberg Businessweek. The Atlantic wrote that he “has come to represent the Occupy Wall Street message...expressing the group’s theory, and its founding principles, in a way that truly elucidated some of the things people have questioned about it.”

About the author

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David Graeber
David Graeber
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David Rolfe Graeber (/ˈɡreɪbər/; born 12 February 1961) is a London-based anthropologist and anarchist activist, perhaps best known for his 2011 volume Debt: The First 5000 Years. He is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics.

As an assistant professor and associate professor of anthropology at Yale from 1998–2007 he specialised in theories of value and social theory. The university's decision not to rehire him when he would otherwise have become eligible for tenure sparked an academic controversy, and a petition with more than 4,500 signatures. He went on to become, from 2007–13, Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

His activism includes protests against the 3rd Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001, and the 2002 World Economic Forum in New York City. Graeber was a leading figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and is sometimes credited with having coined the slogan, "We are the 99 percent".

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by David Graeber Edited by czar [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Features & details

Features

  • Used Book in Good Condition

Product information

Publisher Melville House
Publication date November 27, 2012
Edition Reprint
Language ‎English
Print length 544 pages
ISBN-10 1612191290
ISBN-13 978-1612191294
Item Weight ‎1.15 pounds
Dimensions 5.63 x 1.48 x 8.36 inches
Best Sellers Rank
Customer Reviews 4.4 out of 5 stars 649Reviews

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
649 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find this book well-researched and highly readable, with one noting it's essential reading for politicians and economists. The book provides an overview of money's history through the ages and offers new perspectives on economics, with one customer highlighting its fascinating connections between commodity money. Customers appreciate the writing style, which is free of technical jargon, and find the content interesting, with one describing it as a beautifully written anthropological survey. The book receives mixed feedback regarding its political context.
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105 customers mention content, 96 positive, 9 negative
Customers find the book thought-provoking and well-researched, with lots of good information.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
...This is a great read for those who prefer to sniff suspiciously at some of the treasured axioms of neoclassical economics.Read more
Meet expectation. Good book. Excellent reference book and a must read for anyone with an interest in history of banking and finance,Read more
Great book. Very comprehensive and enlightening....Read more
...An excellent, well researched and annotated economic history book by an anthropologist, putting today's crises in clear context....Read more
33 customers mention readability, 24 positive, 9 negative
Customers find the book highly readable and quick to finish, with one customer noting it's essential reading for understanding economics and finance.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
...Graeber presents a millennia spanning view of money and debt that is a clear and fun read and full of odd historical facts and vivid vignettes....Read more
...answers to the what he says is the Great Question of debt; it is easy to understand, drawing on anthropology's fascinating ability to shine a light...Read more
Heavy reading. Mostly read sections of interest, not the whole thing.Read more
Essential Reading for all who want to glimpse behind the curtain of our assumptions about what money is....Read more
23 customers mention economics, 18 positive, 5 negative
Customers appreciate the book's economic insights, particularly its examination of monetary systems over 5,000 years and its exploration of money and debt concepts. One customer notes the fascinating connections between commodity money, while another highlights the illuminating analysis of monetary policy shifts.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
...only is the book fantastic (still reading), it may be the most important book on economics, primarily for the "non-experts, i.e. the victims", in...Read more
...written anthropological survey about the history of money and debt takes off a lot of mystery which surrounds the mainstream political economy....Read more
...a wide breadth of knowledge about history and anthropology and history of economics, I would have to say it rambled a lot....Read more
First off, the author is an anthropologist, not an economist or someone else with more than a passing familiarity with financial products or even...Read more
21 customers mention historical information, 21 positive, 0 negative
Customers appreciate the historical information in the book, which provides an overview of money through the ages and offers an alternative perspective on debt. One customer notes that the content about credit and war is particularly eye-opening.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
Very interesting ideas and overlooked side of history....Read more
...His is a keen mind that resists carving culture, history, and all that into neat little bundles. Civilization is a messy knot....Read more
...read this book. This book is full of interesting history and shows just how much an anthropologist's perspective can add to our understanding of...Read more
...This is a eye-opening and sobering account of the centuries of lies still being told....Read more
21 customers mention interesting, 21 positive, 0 negative
Customers find the book interesting, with some describing it as a fun read, and one noting that the evil part is particularly engaging.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
Not text-book like, quite Interesting and easy to understand, I see it as description of himdn behaviour instead of economic behaviour.Read more
...on the origins of money that were pretty dry but overall this was a fascinating, heartbreaking book.Read more
Over all, and interesting read but tedious repetitive in large sections....Read more
...a millennia spanning view of money and debt that is a clear and fun read and full of odd historical facts and vivid vignettes....Read more
18 customers mention writing style, 14 positive, 4 negative
Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, finding it interesting and free of technical jargon, with one customer describing it as a beautifully written anthropological survey.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
Well written & well researched. This book is very academic - not for the the faint of heart!Read more
...I've already talked about how much i like his writing style....Read more
...This is a brilliant point, well-argued and important. But it has an obverse side the author misrepresents....Read more
...apart from these two ideas, this book is disorganized, sloppily written and lacks an overarching thesis to tie its chapters together....Read more
9 customers mention story, 7 positive, 2 negative
Customers find the book's story engaging, with one customer noting it attempts to construct a grand narrative of history, while another appreciates its strong argument.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
...This is no dry textbook; Graeber is both a scholar and a storyteller, and you may find yourself coming back to this book again and again....Read more
...While this story is interesting in its own right, Graeber's main argument here is that tracing the history of debt unearths some uneasy truths and...Read more
This is an amazing book. The attempted construction of a grand narrative of history is something that anthropology has unfortunately gotten away...Read more
Too much filling, it's a short story padded out. Not interestingly written. Couldn't recommend it. Save the trouble and just read a review.Read more
11 customers mention political context, 7 positive, 4 negative
Customers have mixed views on the book's political context, with some appreciating its societal insights while others find it confusing and politically biased.AI Generated from the text of customer reviews
This book is a treasure trove of ideas spanning freedom, religion, politics, society, the whole breadth of human experience tied together through...Read more
...There's no relation to modern society, other then the author's ham-handed attempt to equate capitalism with slavery, so there's really no good...Read more
...would recommend it to anyone with an interest in economics, history, governance and generally in the "human condition"....Read more
...to the bottom of how value is conceptualized, measured, and transferred in human society. David Graeber is a great thinker of our time for sure.Read more
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