Category Books

Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit and Debt, from Aristotle to AIG »

Authors: Jack Cashill
ISBN-13: 9781595552730, ISBN-10: 1595552731
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Date Published: March 2010
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Jack Cashill

Book Synopsis

For the answer, Jack Cashill, a journalist as shrewd as he is seasoned looks past the headlines and deep into pages of history and come back with goods. From Plato to payday loans, from the Medici to Bernie Madoff in Popes and Bankers Jack Cashill infurls a fascinating story of credit and debt, usury and "the Sordid love of gain."

With a dizzying cast of characters, including church officials, gutter loan sharks, and even the Knights Templar, Cashill traces the creative tension between "pious restraint" and "economic ambition" through the annals of human history and illuminated both the dark corners of our past and the duxty corners of our billfolds.

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 The Seventh Circle 1

Chapter 2 Unto a Stranger 8

Chapter 3 Hoping for Nothing Again 14

Chapter 4 Master of Those Who Know 22

Chapter 5 Prepared for the Crown 33

Chapter 6 Aboveboard 41

Chapter 7 The Rules of Equity 52

Chapter 8 I Stand Here for Law 61

Chapter 9 Prodigals and Projectors 68

Chapter 10 Tulips 77

Chapter 11 Bubbles 84