Product Description

In this wide-ranging history of debt Margaret Atwood investigates its many meanings through the ages, from ancient times to the current global financial meltdown. Many of us wonder: how could we have let such a collapse happen? How old or inevitable is this human pattern of debt? Imaginative, topical and insightful, Payback urges us to reconsider our ideas of ownership and debt - before it is too late.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10556 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'A fascinating, freewheeling examination of ideas of debt, balance and revenge in history, society and literature - Atwood has again struck upon our most current anxieties' The Times 'A stimulating, learned, and stylish read from an eminent author writing from a heartfelt perspective very provocative' Conrad Black 'Could hardly be more timely as clear a summary of the situation as I have read' Financial Times 'Lively and exceedingly timely At a time when so many of us are mired in debts of the financial variety it is worth remembering that it is the other, non-financial debts that we owe - to the planet, and to each other - that may prove most important' Observer

Review
`With this...lively and exceedingly timely book, Margaret Atwood has written what might be described as an intellectual history of debt ...'

Review
`Equal parts philosophical essay, literary criticism and historical narrative - a compelling project from the start'

Customer Reviews

A jewel of a book
This little book, as attractive in its format as in its verbal felicity, is based on a series of lectures about debt. They must have been memorable. It is not about the credit crunch - although the book's publication is timely - but about the imaginary constructions underlying concepts of indebtedness in the widest sense. Using folklore, religion, ancient history, literature, computer simulations and experiments in animal behaviour, Atwood shows that a sense that there should be balance and fairness in relations between debtors and creditors lies deep in the human psyche and that when this is absent, things turn nasty. This applies even among the higher animals, as shown by a fascinating experiment in which monkeys were taught to trade stones for bananas. She concludes with an examination of the `debt to nature', arguing that mankind cannot go on taking rather than giving, without destroying the Earth on which it depends, the point being illustrated with a chilling modern version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol.
Atwood makes the most serious points in a way that is engaging to read, constantly throwing new light on familiar things - from The Merchant of Venice to the meaning of `publicans' and `trespasses' in the New Testament. Once started, the book is hard to put down. It would make salutary reading for economists, politicians and City folk.
Graham Hallett

Not what I was expecting!
No problems with the product or the services I received but I just couldn't get into this book. It just wasn't what I expected. It is obviously a timely subject matter and was included in the top books of the decade so I thought I would enjoy it. However I am more used to reading factual business / financial books and this was more of a study of debt frome the classics and history.

Payback, by M.Atwood
MY BEST EVER CANADIAN AUTHOR, READ ALL HER PUBLISHED WORK,LOVE HER INTELLIGENCE AND SENSITIVE INSIGHT.