{"product_id":"debt-isbn-9781612199337","title":"Debt","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe classic work on debt, now is a special tenth anniversary edition\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ewith a new introduction by Thomas Piketty\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBefore there was money, there was debt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eDebt: The First 5,000 Years \u003c\/i\u003eis a fascinating chronicle of this little known history—as well as how it has defined human history. It shows how debt has defined our human past, and what that means for our economic future.Winner of the \u003cb\u003eBateson Book Prize\u003c\/b\u003e awarded by the Society for Cultural Anthropology and the \u003cb\u003eBread and Roses Award\u003c\/b\u003e for Radical Literature \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Written in a brash, engaging style, the book is also a philosophical inquiry into the nature of debt — where it came from and how it evolved.” \u003cb\u003e—Thomas Meaney, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] groundbreaking study...opened up a vibrant and ongoing conversation about  the evolution of our economic system by challenging conventional  accounts of the origins of money and markets; relationships of credit  and debt, he showed, preceded the development of coinage and cash.\" \u003cb\u003e—Astra Taylor, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e “Debt [is] meticulously and deliciously detailed.” \u003cb\u003e—Ben Ehrenreich,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Exhausting...Engaging...An authoritative account of the background to the recent crisis. Both erudite and impertinent, [Graeber's] book helps illuminate the omissions of the current debate and the tacit political conflicts that lurk behind technical budget questions.\" \u003cb\u003e—Robert Kuttner, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Fascinating... [An] extraordinary book, at once learned and freewheeling.\" \u003cb\u003e—Benjamin Kunkel, \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e “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.” \u003cb\u003e—Paul Mason, \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An alternate history of the rise of money and markets, a sprawling, erudite, provocative work.\" —\u003cb\u003eDrake Bennett, \u003ci\u003eBloomberg Businessweek\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “[A] formidable piece of anthropological scholarship... [Graeber] demonstrates how a new understanding of debt might provide us with some clues for the future.” —Justin E. H. Smith, \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eBookforum\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An absolutely indispensable—and enormous—treatise on the history of money and its relationship to inequality in society.” —\u003cb\u003eCory Doctorow\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eBoingBoing\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"[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.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eJesse Singal, \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “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.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003ePeter Carey\u003ci\u003e, The Observer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Graeber helps by exposing the bad old world of debt, and clearing the way for a new horizon beyond commodification.” \u003cb\u003e— \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New Left Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eRaj Patel, \u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Fresh... fascinating... Graeber’s book is not just thought-provoking, but also exceedingly timely.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Gillian Tett, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(London)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Remarkable.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eGiles Fraser, \u003ci\u003eBBC RADIO 4\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"An amazing debut – conversational, pugnacious, propulsive\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e—\u003cb\u003eTimes Higher Education\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e (UK)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eCharles Mudede, \u003ci\u003eThe Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"The world of borrowing needs a little demystification, and David Graeber's \u003ci\u003eDebt \u003c\/i\u003eis a good start.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe L Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Controversial and thought-provoking, an excellent book.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"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.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibrary\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Praise for David Graeber\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"A brilliant, deeply original political thinker.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eRebecca Solnit, author of \u003ci\u003eA Paradise Built in Hell\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I consider him the best anthropological theorist of his generation from anywhere in the world.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e —Maurice Bloch, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “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.” \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Marshall Sahlins, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eDAVID GRAEBER\u003c\/b\u003e (1961--2020)  was an American professor of anthropology at  the London School of Economics,  who also taught at Goldsmiths College  and Yale University. One of the original organizers of Occupy Wall  Street, Graeber was also the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Utopia of Rules\u003c\/i\u003e and numerous other books, as well as writing for magazines and newspapers including \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian, Harper’s, The Baffler, n+1, The Nation, The New Inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe New Left Review.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eTHOMAS PIKETTY \u003c\/b\u003eis professor of economics at the School for Advanced  Studies in the Social Sciences, associate chair at the Paris School of  Economics, and Centennial Professor of Economics in the International  Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics. His book, \u003ci\u003eCapital in the Twenty-First Century\u003c\/i\u003e, reached number one on the\u003ci\u003e New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller list.","brand":"Melville House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304484458725,"sku":"NP9781612199337","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781612199337.jpg?v=1767724929","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/debt-isbn-9781612199337","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}