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David Graeber

Debt: The First 5000 Years

€28,95

Now in paperback, 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.

Format: Paperback
Published: in USA in 2014
Publisher: Melville House Publishing
Pages: 548
Language: English
ISBN 13: 9781612194196
ISBN 10: 1612194192
Edition: 2 Rev ed

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Debt: The First 5000 Years

€28,95