Debt - Updated and Expanded cover art

Debt - Updated and Expanded

The First 5,000 Years

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About this listen

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 Ancient Anthropology Economic History Economics Theory World Middle Ages Thought-Provoking Money Inspiring Capitalism Latin American Africa Imperialism Socialism Taxation Iran Middle East Law Social justice China Human Rights Self-Determination

Critic reviews

"Controversial and thought-provoking, an excellent book." (Booklist)
All stars
Most relevant
A truly fascinating history of debt and money if I ever heard of one. It's a very long book but worth the time.

Long but fascinating

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Very informative, but highly tedious. The tediousness is not helped by the lifeless and monotone delivery of the narrator.

Very informative, but highly tedious

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I think this book really highlights the world we live in, the world how it has been and an amazing insight into what is important, as well as what we may all perceive to be important but actually isn’t.

Totally enlightening

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Insight to how money works ok relation to living. For anyone interested in humanity surviving another century!

A must

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A great work by a great man. The jokes are good also. Worth revisiting time and again.

A great work by a great man.

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