Credit history

Book

Credit history

Borrow: The American Way of Debt

The opening story of this history of American borrowing has a “ripped from the headlines” feel: A young working couple take out an interest-only mortgage on a house in a decent neighborhood—but outside what they can afford—then fills up its interior on credit. When the economy goes south and they lose their jobs, they also lose the house and everything in it. It’s the same story that afflicted thousands of people last month, except, as Louis Hyman makes clear in Borrow: The American Way of Debt, this particular case happened in 1932. This comprehensive—yet extremely readable—history of American attitudes toward credit and debt is fascinating, especially as it stresses how our attitudes toward borrowing have always been undercut by our economy’s relentless need to grow. This is a must-read primer on the American way of buying for anyone who resists economic texts.

—Kel Munger