Sacred Economics: Money, Gift and Society in the Age of Transition

(Paperback)

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Expanded and updated, Charles Eisenstein's classic treatise on capitalism, currency, and the gift economy. This revised version of Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, and includes new chapters on up-to-date topics like cryptocurrencies and emerging research that has come out since the book's original publication in 2011. Author Charles Eisenstein reveals how late-stage capitalism has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity; destroyed community; and necessitated endless growth at the cost of social and environmental devastation. Today, these trends have reached their extreme-but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunities to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being. Sacred Economics, Revised revisits the last ten years, showing how our money system has already begun a profound transformation-and explores the ways that our economy must continue to shift to support these changes. A broadly integrated synthesis of theory, policy, and practice, Sacred Economics, Revised explores avant-garde concepts of the New Economics, including negative-interest currencies, local currencies, gift economies, cryptocurrencies, and the restoration of the commons. Eisenstein also considers the personal dimensions of this transition, speaking to those concerned with "right livelihood" and how to live according to their ideals in a world seemingly ruled by money. Tapping into a rich lineage of conventional and unconventional economic thought, Sacred Economics, Revised presents a vision that is original yet commonsense, radical yet gentle, and increasingly relevant as the crises of our civilization deepen.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION

This brilliant and beautifully written book is a must-read for all those who believe our economic system is terminally sick and in need of radical, sacred rehaul.
ANDREW HARVEY, author of The Hope

If you want a convincing account of just how deep the shift in our new axial age is and must be, look no further than this brilliant book by Charles Eisenstein, one of the deepest integrative thinkers active today.
MICHEL BAUWENS, founder of the P2P Foundation

Author Bio

CHARLES EISENSTEIN is a speaker and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. His viral short films and essays online have established him as a genre-defying social philosopher and countercultural intellectual. Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. In 2017, he was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on SuperSoul Sunday. He is the author of Climate-A New Story (North Atlantic Books, 2018), The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible (North Atlantic Books, 2013), Sacred Economics (North Atlantic Books, 2011), and The Ascent of Humanity (North Atlantic Books, 2011).