Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber
Join our special Reading Group to mark the imminent launch of the David Graeber Institute, we will be reading what many consider to be David’s most seminal book.


Debt: The First 5,000 Years is a book that eludes simple summary. It is an encyclopaedic journey through global history encompassing the stories of grand civilizations as well as small societies whose social logics reveal more about the human condition than anyone might imagine. It is primarily a story about money and the way material issues have always been underlain by moral considerations.
Led and moderated by Steven Bachelor who recently also led the Reading Group “The Dawn of Everything”, this new Reading Group will be running on the first and third Thursdays from 20 October.
Recordings of Reading groups are available in a Youtube playlist
Links to the events:
- Part 1, Thursday 20 October 2022 – Inaugural session, introduction with special guest
- Part 2, Thursday 3 November 2022
- Part 3, Thursday 17 November 2022
- Part 4, Thursday 1 December 2022
- Part 5, Thursday 15 December 2022
- Part 6, Thursday 5 January 2023
- Part 7, Thursday 19 January 2023
- Part 8, Thursday 2 February 2023
- Part 9, Thursday 16 February 2023
- Part 10, Thursday 2 March 2023
- Part 11, Thursday 16 March 2023
- Part 12, Thursday 6 April 2023
- Part 13, Thursday 20 April 20203