The Devil's Riches A Modern History of Greed [Hardcover]

A seeming constant in the history of capitalism, greed has nonetheless undergone considerable transformations over the last five hundred years. This multilayered account offers a fresh take on an old topic, arguing that greed was experienced as a moral phenomenon and deployed to make sense of an unjust world. Focusing specifically on the interrelated themes of religion, economics, and healtheach of which sought to study and channel the power of financial desireJared Poley shows how evolving ideas about greed became formative elements of the modern experience.

&a thought-provoking study of a subject that is too often taken for granted, rather than subjected to critical examination. Financial Times

&a very stimulating, multi-faceted and valuable study of morality, and economics. Historische Zeitschrift

Scholarly yet accessible, this is an excellent, much-needed analysis of a subject that is both topical and timeless. Poley focuses on key figures and social forces in well-chosen case studies from throughout modern history, providing a valuable perspective on the last half millennium of globalized capital. Douglas McGetchin, Florida Atlantic University

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1.Greed and Avarice before Absolutism
Chapter 2.The Confessionalization of an Emotion
Chapter 3.Greed and the Law in the Seventeenth Century
Chapter 4.Greed, Consumerism, and the State
Chapter 5.Greed and the Oscillations between Liberalism and Socialism
Chapter 6.Greed and the New Spiritualism
Chapter 7.The Psychology and Psychoanalysis of Greed

Conclusions:Greed and History

Index

Jared Poley