Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit and Debt, from Aristotle to AIG
- ISBN13: 9781595552730
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The first accessible, upbeat, engaging and even amusing history of the endlessly fascinating topic of credit and debt, which has shaped civilization in ways even bankers cannot begin to imagine. It is altogether appropriate that the term applied to today’s economic woes is “credit crunch. ” When banks stop lending, even to each other, and when no amount of interest can prompt them, the gears of the world’s civilization grind to an ungodly halt. Crunch! F. . . More >>
Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit and Debt, from Aristotle to AIG
Jack Cashill, author of 14 books and DVDs including Hoodwinked and Sucker Punch, has released a book that aims straight at America’s dependence on credit.
The book begins by referencing Dante’s Inferno, citing how it categorized money lenders with murderers in the fourth circle of hell. It then gives a broad overview of how buyers were lured into purchasing homes with no money down, how Washington enabled this credit bubble and how the media went easy on everyone involved.
If this sounds like a boring academic title though, think again. Cashill strings together a series of interesting tales to show how America came to their current philosophy (reliance) on lending. Occasionally, Cashill forays into the religious arena, as well, noting that shared Jewish and Christian tradition treated charging interest for loans as a moral failure on the part of the lender. The reader will also pick up new trivia on how credit cards, home loans and buying on installment came into play–all tid bits that belong to Cashill’s bigger tale of how we became so reliant on credit.
The good news is you don’t have to be well-versed in financial terminology or history to follow Cashill’s easy to read style, although a lover of history would likely be the perfect buyer for this book.
Rating: 5 / 5
I tried and tried to enjoy this book, but I found it very hard to read. The Author uses ALOT of big words, that I had to look up in the dictionary.
He also had alot of footnotes that weren’t included on the page. The Author makes you flip to the back of the book. That made the book even less enjoyable.
From what I could understand without help, I found the information interesting. The Author goes as far back as to BC and talks about Usury (an old term for loans)
He also gets into the current day to day problems with the economy and banks. I especially like his chapter on Dave Ramsey, who is one of mine and my Husband’s idols!!!
I think this would have been truly enjoyable for average Joe’s like me, if he used more Lehman’s terms!!!
I was given a copy of this book to review from Thomas Nelson and Booksneeze. All opinions expressed are 100% mine
Rating: 1 / 5
I like learning things about our financial system and the way it works. This book takes an overview of the history of Usury (lending) from it’s beginnings, up through the end of the 21st century. It would be hard to cover that much history with any detail and still have a single volume book, so don’t expect all the fine details of the history. Breaking from the history, Cashill leads the reader into the setup and fall of the financial industry of the 2000′s.
If you’re interested in the subject, it’s a good read. The one downside that I found was that it reads very much like a news article at the end. Well researched and noted.
Rating: 3 / 5
Popes and Bankers is an incredibly fascinating read. And just like the title infers, it’s a cultural history of credit and debt. It caught my eye because of the recent credit and banking crisis that has tanked the U. S. economy. Popes and Bankers attempts to explain how we ended up in this crisis by exploring society’s views on usury (a. k. a. lending at interest) throughout world history. Cashill also discusses the people that had major impacts on our views of moneylending – the authors, the philosophers, the rulers, the businessmen, the crooks, etc. . . Interestingly, the book is written from a Christian worldview. So a lot of time is spent exploring and commenting on the Jewish and Christian influence on society.
The list of interesting topics is too long to list. . . But, for me, there were a few key things that really made the book worth reading. First was reading how Charles Ponzi got a scheme named after him. (Very timely, I know. ) Second was learning about all the bubbles and financial meltdowns of different societies throughout the centuries.
Third. . . I’ve always heard the anti-semitic comments about “jewish bankers”, but I’ve never really understood where these thoughts come from. Interestingly, they partially go back to Mosaic law which allowed the Jews to lend money at interest to strangers. And Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice didn’t help either.
Fourth, it seems that all financial troubles generally result from greed – either people wanting more than they have or people trying to make money without doing anything of tangible value. And lastly, I found it interesting how our unique American culture and politics brought about this recent collapse.
There were also a few things that I didn’t like about Popes and Bankers. I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, a master’s degree in business, and I usually win at Scrabble, but I found the first few chapters nearly incomprehensible. I didn’t know half of the words that Cashill used, and I really felt like he was trying to compete with Virgil and Shakespeare while crafting his prose. Fortunately, what I did understand was interesting and I pressed on. Once you get over that mountain, the rest of the book is very readable although there are still quite a few post-doctoral words to be found.
Legal stuff: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze. com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. ”
Rating: 4 / 5
“Things are not as they seem. ”
Popes and Bankers is really more than a book. It’s an education (or, at least a good class; one in which you find yourself taking a lot of notes and underlining complete pages. )
There’s so much information in this book regarding the history of banking, how we view money, and what led us to our current lending practices that it really could have been broken up into two books.
Usury history and ideas from ancient days as far back as the Israelites, Dante’s Divine Comedy, early Christianity, Aristotle, Martin Luther, and Calvin to Marx, Roosevelt, Warburg, Goldman Sachs and Bernie Madoff. There are just many layers of gold, greed, and blood covered in this book and. . . it is not a walk in the park. (However, It’s not a difficult read, either. )
“Things are not as they seem” will come to mind as the author peels away at the makings of the first bank, the first credit card, the first short sale, the first Ponzi scheme; the Federal Reserve. . .
This is the kind of book you’ll keep and refer to over the years.
Highly recommended for anyone who likes to read history or church history.
(Thank you to Thomas Nelson Publishers for my copy of Popes and Bankers. )
Rating: 5 / 5