title: Debt: The First 5,000 Years
author:  David Graeber 
description: Winner of the <b>Bateson Book Prize</b> awarded by the Society for Cultural Anthropology<br><br>&ldquo;One of the year&rsquo;s most influential books. Graeber situates the emergence of credit within the rise of class society, the destruction of societies based on &lsquo;webs of mutual commitment&rsquo; and the constantly implied threat of physical violence that lies behind all social relations based on money.&rdquo;&#160;<b>&mdash;Paul&#160;Mason,&#160;<i>THE GUARDIAN</i></b><br> <br>&#160;&ldquo;The book is more readable and entertaining than I can indicate... It is a meditation&#160;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&#160;economic transactions.&rdquo;&#160;<b><i>&mdash;</i>Peter Carey<i>, THE OBSERVER</i></b><br><br>"An alternate history of the rise of money and markets, a sprawling, erudite, provocative work."<br>&mdash;<b>Drake Bennett, <i>BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK</i></b><br><br>"[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."<br>&mdash;<b>Jesse Singal,&#160;<i>BOSTON GLOBE<br></i></b><br> "Fresh... fascinating... Graeber&rsquo;s book is not just thought-provoking, but also exceedingly timely."<br><b>&mdash;<b>Gillian Tett, </b><i>FINANCIAL TIMES</i></b> <b>(London)</b><br><br>"Remarkable."<br>&mdash;<b>Giles Fraser, <i>BBC RADIO 4</i></b><br><br>"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."<br><b><i>&mdash;</i>Raj Patel, <i><i>THE GLOBE AND MAIL</i></i></b><br><br>"An amazing debut &ndash; conversational, pugnacious, propulsive"<br><i>&mdash;</i><b><i>TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION</i> (UK)</b><br><br>"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."<br>&mdash;<b>Charles Mudede,&#160;<i>THE STRANGER</i></b><br><br>"The world of borrowing needs a little demystification, and David Graeber's&#160;<i>Debt </i>is a good start."<br>&mdash;<b><i>THE L MAGAZINE</i></b><br><br>"Controversial and thought-provoking, an excellent book."<br>&mdash;<b><i>BOOKLIST</i></b><br><br>"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."<br>&mdash;<b><i>LIBRARY JOURNAL</i></b><br><b><u><br>Praise for David Graeber</u></b><br><br>&ldquo;I consider him the best anthropological theorist of his generation from anywhere in the world.&rdquo;<b><br>&mdash;Maurice Bloch, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics<br></b><br> "A brilliant, deeply original political thinker."<br>&mdash;<b>Rebecca Solnit, author of&#160;<i>A Paradise Built in Hell</i></b><br><br>&ldquo;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&mdash;now more urgent than ever&mdash;of making the possibilities of other people&rsquo;s worlds the basis for understanding our own.&rdquo; <br> <b>&mdash;Marshall Sahlins, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago</b>
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  © 2011 David Graeber
  
  
  First Melville House Printing: May 2011
  
  
  Melville House Publishing 145 Plymouth Street Brooklyn, New York 11201
  mhpbooks.com
  
  
  ISBN: 978-1-933633-86-2
  
  
  Printed in the United States of America
  
  
  123456789 10
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Graeber, David.
  
  
  Debt : the first 5,000 years / David Graeber. p. cm.
  
  
  Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-933633-86-2 (alk.
  paper)
  
  
  1\. Debt-History. 2. Money-History. 3. Financial crises-History. I. Title.
  
  
  HG3701.G73 2010 332—dc22
  
  
  2010044508
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  
  1 On The Experience of
  
  
  Moral Confusion 1
  
  
  2 The Myth of Barter 21
  
  
  3 Primordial Debts 43
  
  
  4 Cruelty and Redemption 73
  
  
  5 A Brief Treatise on the Moral
  
  
  Grounds of Economic Relations 89
  
  
  6 Games with Sex and Death 127
  
  
  7 Honor and Degradation, or, On the Foundations of
  
  