“In the final analysis,” he states simply, “the man with the gun doesn’t have to do anything he does not want to do.” Graeber observes that the power and capacity to create violence determines how an entity-a country, for instance- experiences debt and the pressure to repay that debt. Deep contradictions and economic double standards have been at play for centuries, he notes, and have evolved into the power dynamics in force today. He examines how the experience of debt is different for economically disenfranchised people and countries in the global south compared to privileged people and wealthy countries. The dynamic between debt and credit, and how they function, is Graeber’s primary focus. Although, taken chapter by chapter, Debt is an accessible and interesting read, the book is also dense and detailed-and long. Graeber examines various aspects of economic mechanisms and systems of exchange, then journeys down a timeline of economic evolution, from around 800 BC through the present. At times humorous and always thought-provoking, this engaging, thoroughly researched text presents a fascinating history of human financial systems and illustrates how changeable these systems actually appear when viewed over time. Into this moment of epochal crisis comes Debt: The First 5,000 Years, a book examining the history of the economic forces that seem permanently entrenched and that affect our lives profoundly. The lingering 2008 financial crisis has sparked worldwide protest movements this year that are hunkered down and gaining momentum in the face of the immense financial stresses effecting all but the richest among us. Human-scale economic considerations are being crushed beneath the massive weight of a worldwide permanent war economy and a bloated, lawless global financial system. Pressure from the faltering economy, violence and warfare, debt/deficit worries, and austerity measures are approaching a breaking point.

Right now, everyday people are feeling increasing stress from all directions. 2011, Melville House Publishing, 544 pages, $32

Debt the last 5000 years