Book Reviews › Money › Debt: The First 5,000 Years
Honest review · Money
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
by David Graeber
An anthropologist overturns the barter myth and traces debt, money and morality through history. Sprawling, brilliant, contested.
Read it if…
you want your assumptions about money upended.
See the book →
Skip it if…
you want mainstream economics.
Try instead: Capital and Ideology →
Three things you will actually use
- Credit came before coins.
- Debt is moral language.
- Question the origin story.
Do this first
Read the chapter on the myth of barter.
Our verdict
Graeber on debt.
See the book →
Compare with other Money books
Browse all Money book reviews or get the free Reality Code Cheat Sheet.
As an Amazon Associate, WisdomDeck earns from qualifying purchases. Links marked “Click to see” go to Amazon. We are not paid for opinions, prices and availability are not shown here and change on Amazon, and we never see your purchase details. Nothing here is medical, legal or financial advice.