Review: Debt: The First 5,000 Years

When David talks about anthropology and sociology, he is sort of interesting. When he talks about anything else, eyes will (or, at least, should) roll. I don't really know what this book is about. Debt, obviously. But what about debt? That sometimes it's useful (builds community, helps the poor when they don't have anything) but sometimes super shitty (when it helps invent slavery/when it forces people to join the rat race of society)?

I read it like this: "Here are a bunch of interesting facts... also, we should be socialist." Or anarchist? Or we should celebrate the "non-industrious poor"? I don't really know.

There seem to be a lot of interesting ideas in here. Like, there is a deep connection between feminism and slavery (the dehumanization of women by patriarchal societies turns women into slaves, which then allows men to become slaves). Pointing out how the backlash against the patriarchy and slavery essentially happened in the same historical moment would be useful, but he doesn't touch on it.

This is a book of muck with a few gems, and I don't think you should treck through the muck to get to the gems.