From personal finance and consumer spending to ballooning national expenditures on warfare and social welfare, debt is fundamental to the dynamics of global capitalism. The contributors to this volume explore the concept of indebtedness in its various senses and from a wide range of perspectives. They observe that many views of ethics, citizenship, and governance are based on a conception of debts owed by one individual to others; that artistic and literary creativity involves the artist's dialogue with the works of the past; and that the specter of catastrophic climate change has underscored the debt those living in the present owe to future generations.

Contributions by: Richard D. Wolff, Elaine Lewinnek, Mary Poovey, Michael A. Gillespie, Joel Magnuson, Stephen Gardner, Julianne Lutz Warren, Genese Marie Sodikoff