Beggar Thy Neighbor: A History of Usury and Debt

摘要

In the introduction to Beggar Thy Neighbor, Charles Geisst states, "The history of usury usually has been divided into a general discussion surrounding borrowing and lending on the one hand and the legal treatment of usury by various societies on the other" (p. 5). The scope of the book-a complete history of usury from the ancient world to today-is ambitious. In the next 300 pages, Geisst stays comfortably in that older tradition by foregrounding philosophers, mathematicians, and jurists over the real experiences of borrowers and lenders.