DAVID GRAEBER (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
The Utopia of Rules and numerous other books, as well as writing
for magazines and newspapers including The Guardian, Harper's, The
Baffler, n+1, The Nation, The New Inquiry and The New Left
Review.
THOMAS PIKETTY is 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, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, reached
number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
Winner of the Bateson Book Prize awarded by the Society for
Cultural Anthropology and the Bread and Roses Award for Radical
Literature
“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.” —Thomas Meaney, The New York Times Book
Review
"[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." —Astra Taylor, The New Yorker
“Debt [is] meticulously and deliciously detailed.” —Ben
Ehrenreich, Los Angeles Times
"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." —Robert Kuttner, The New York Review of Books
"Fascinating... [An] extraordinary book, at once learned and
freewheeling." —Benjamin Kunkel, London Review of Books
“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.” —Paul Mason, The Guardian
"An alternate history of the rise of money and markets, a
sprawling, erudite, provocative work." —Drake Bennett, Bloomberg
Businessweek
“[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, Bookforum
“An absolutely indispensable—and enormous—treatise on the history
of money and its relationship to inequality in society.” —Cory
Doctorow, BoingBoing
"[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."
—Jesse Singal, Boston Globe
“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.” —Peter Carey, The
Observer
“Graeber helps by exposing the bad old world of debt, and clearing
the way for a new horizon beyond commodification.” — The
New Left Review
"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."
—Raj Patel, The Globe and Mail
"Fresh... fascinating... Graeber’s book is not just
thought-provoking, but also exceedingly timely."
—Gillian Tett, Financial Times (London)
"Remarkable."
—Giles Fraser, BBC RADIO 4
"An amazing debut – conversational, pugnacious, propulsive"
—Times Higher Education (UK)
"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."
—Charles Mudede, The Stranger
"The world of borrowing needs a little demystification, and David
Graeber's Debt is a good start."
—The L Magazine
"Controversial and thought-provoking, an excellent book."
—Booklist
"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."
—Library Journal
Praise for David Graeber
"A brilliant, deeply original political thinker."
—Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in Hell
“I consider him the best anthropological theorist of his generation
from anywhere in the world.”
—Maurice Bloch, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of
Economics
“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.”
—Marshall Sahlins, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor
Emeritus of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University
of Chicago
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