In this book, David Graeber reveals that before money, there was debt. For over 5,000 years, humans used credit systems to trade goods, predating coins or cash. Graeber argues this era saw the division of society into debtors and creditors. He also shows how debates on debt and forgiveness shaped political revolts and influenced law and religion, with terms like “guilt” and “redemption” rooted in ancient disputes, affecting modern beliefs.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Debt was pronounced to be the anarchist bible and with a single stroke David placed the topic of debt at the center of academic debates, inspiring a whole set of scholars to wrest the understanding of economy away from professional economists. For the present generation, the call for clean slates and widespread debt cancellation had never rung so loudly.
1 On the Experience of Moral Confusion
2 The Myth of Barter
3 Primordial Debts
4 Cruelty and Redemption
5 A Brief Treatise on the Moral Grounds of Economic Relations
6 Games with Sex and Death
7 Honor and Degradation, or, on the Foundations of Contemporary Civilization
8 Credit Versus Bullion, And the Cycles of History 211
9 The Axiai Age (800 BC-600 AD)
10 The Middle Ages (600 AD-1450 AD)
11 Age of the Great Capitalist Empires (1450-1971)
12 The Beginning of Something Yet to Be Determined (1971-present)
English
Title: Debt: The First 5,000 Years
First Published: 2011
ISBN: 978-1-933633-86-2
Publisher: Melville House
Translators:
Pages: 534
French
Title: Dette : 5000 ans d'histoire
First Published: 2013
ISBN: 979-10-209-0059-3
Publisher: Éditions Les Liens qui libèrent
Translators: Françoise Chemla, Paul Chemla
Pages: 623
German
Title: Schulden: die ersten 5000 Jahre
First Published: 2012
ISBN: 3608103104, 9783608103106
Publisher: Klett-Cotta
Translators: Ursel Schäfer, Hans Freundl, Stephan Gebauer
Pages: 536
Russian
Title: Долг. Первые 5000 лет истории
First Published: 2015
ISBN: 9785911032067, 5911032066
Publisher: Ad Marginem Press
Translators: Александр Дунаев
Pages: 527
Debt: the First 5000 Years
Book Review: Debt The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
Invent money so you can take it off of people… Ingenious?
Book Review: Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
Review of ‘Debt: The First 5,000 Years’
Debt and Punishment
David Graeber’s book ‘Debt: The First 5,000 Years’ is missing an analysis of capitalism
BOOK REVIEW SERIES: #4 DEBT: THE FIRST 5000 YEARS BY DAVID GRAEBER.
Book Review: Debt – The First 5000 years
Debt - Updated and Expanded: The First 5,000 Years
Review | Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
Thoughts on David Graeber’s ‘Debt: the first 5,000 years’
A Review of Graeber’s Debt: The First 5000 Years
BOOK REVIEW: “DEBT: THE FIRST 5,000 YEARS” BY DAVID GRAEBER
Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
I had heard that this was a good book, but I was really surprised. It is a great book, much better than the recommendations.
