Debt - Updated and Expanded

The First 5,000 Years

By: David Graeber

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Now in audio, 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.

©2014 David Graeber (P)2015 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"Controversial and thought-provoking, an excellent book." (Booklist)

Transformative to the point of being revolutionary

What did you love best about Debt - Updated and Expanded?

As we grow up, even before we study economics as a formal discipline, we're given a series of "truths" about human interaction - first and foremost the depiction of a world without money as a barter economy, as well as the "natural" human inclination to act for self-advantage, and these serve as the baseline for our reasoning. Thus, reasonable people applying their intellects to questions of human interaction and morality reach conclusions that can be supported by the underlying assumptions.

What David Graeber shows us in "Debt" is that virtually every such assumption is actually incorrect, either outright wrong or misinterpreted as a matter of historical record, so that all of our later reasoning is upended.

What did you like best about this story?

Before going back thousands of years to begin his unveiling, the author presents us with a scene from a cocktail party where he interacts with several people - one of them a banker, another working with a non-governmental organization. It's immediately clear from this interaction just how transformative Graeber's perspective is.

That Graeber is himself "on the left" is well-known - he self-identifies as an anarchist, and is considered to be one of the figures at the center of the early Occupy movement (see another of his books, "The Democracy Project," for details on this) - but this opening scene reveals even before anything else is discussed how the people we regard as "liberal" are really part of the same worldview as those we call "conservative," and that challenging the underlying assumptions is no more welcomed by one than the other.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

Gardner is an excellent narrator, and his tone is just right for the subject matter.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but coming in at nearly 18 hours, that's simply not possible. "Debt" is best listened to in substantial chunks, such as while commuting from place to place; I listened to it on the train, in the car, and while walking. There's a lot here, and it takes time to think about it and absorb the implications.

Any additional comments?

Some people post reviews calling this book "biased." There are certainly some value judgments made by the author, but what most such reviews really seem to be doing is taking issue with the audacity that an anthropologist would present an historical record - well supported by research, mind you - that shows the conventional wisdom on which our current economic thinking is based are all wrong. The negative reviews most often come down to incredulity that someone would dare to tell us that something "everyone" knows to be true (because we were told it was true) could actually be false.

What makes this so amusing is that the people writing such reviews, angry that their worldviews might be so completely wrong and unable to countenance such an idea on an intellectual level, rail that Graeber is "promoting his ideology," even though they're the ones left flailing around defending something whose bases have just been discredited.

You'll get nothing from this book is your intent is to get nothing. If you respond to being presented with very detailed, clearly valid interwoven evidence that much of the world's history just isn't the way that you imagine by saying "Well heck, what does he know?", then your view isn't going to be transformed, because you're taking your current economic beliefs - for whatever reason - purely on faith.

For those of us who studied economics and accepted its premises on faith but built our later understanding on reason from that starting point, reading "Debt" is a really disruptive experience that calls into question almost everything we think and know. It's a great read the first time and better the second.

Thumbs up!

Heavy, but well worth it. Intentionally scholarly. Highly recommend, especially if you want to understand what is messed up about our understanding of economics!!

A must read for anyone interested in economics

Excellent book. David Graeber has his bias, but his arguments are supported well. In my humble opinion, this is one of the most important books written post 2007 crisis. Not only does it challange the current paradigm that frames our way of thinking (one must always pay his debts) but it also provides alternatives (debt jubilee).
As an audio book it is easy to follow and the performance is good.

Be prepared to rethink everything you think you know about debt

"The criminalization of debt, then, was the criminalization of the very basis of human society. It cannot be overemphasized that in a small community, everybody normally was both lender and borrower."

While far from Marxist, this book continuously, systematically, and literately destroys the founding myths of Capitalism by presenting and analyzing a series of cognitive dissonances we should experience when thinking about it. Filled with revealing anthropological accounts and deep insight, this treatise will make you rethink everything you think you understand about money, finance, the market, and debt.

mind blowing history of money

barter is a myth. the history of money is extremely complicated. this book does an incredible job explaining the history of money and the narrator is perfect.

Wonderful, comprehensive anthropological take on debt and money

Excellent reading, intellectual but accessible tone, gripping account of some topics one might find boring. Loved it.

Revealing!!!

the history and insights in this book are of great importance! hopefully it turns out to be one of the most influential books on the Economy and our times. We must learn from our past and project to the Future. David Graeber gives us an excellent starting point. a must-read for 21st century intellectuals.

This book will change your life!

Explains why forgiving all debt-student, homes, etc. etc. and rethinking everything we ever thought we knew about “economics” will make us all better off and ideas about how to get there. Think OCCUPY .

Fallow the money

This book provides a clear understanding of what government is and what it should be. we the people of the people by the people. not for the financial sector of the financial sector by the financial sector.

Awful performance

A harsh voice, like most Audible performances, makes listening a chore. There are many readers with beautiful voices. Why not employ the Most?