Debt: The First 5,000 Years - Hardcover

Graeber, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1933633867 ISBN 13: 9781933633862

Publisher: Melville House Publishing, 2011

Synopsis

Debt: The First 5,000 Years SIGNED COPY

About this title

Críticas:

Fresh...fascinating...Graeber's book is not just thought provoking, but also exceedingly timely. --Gillian Tett, Financial Times

[Graeber's] writings on anthropological theory are outstanding. I consider him the best anthropological theorist of his generation from anywhere in the world. --Maurice Bloch, Professor of Anthropology, LSE

An alternate history of the rise of money and markets, a sprawling, erudite, provocative work. --Drake Bennett, Bloomberg Business Week

Reseña del editor:

Before there was money, there was debt

Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems—to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There’s not a shred of evidence to support it.

Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that 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.

Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history, and what it means for the credit crisis of the present day and the future of our economy.

About this edition

• Publisher: Melville House Publishing
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1933633867
• ISBN 13: 9781933633862
• Binding: Tapa dura
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 540