The Promise and Peril of Credit takes an incisive look at pivotal episodes in the West's centuries-long struggle to define the place of private finance in the social and political order. It does so through the lens of a persistent legend about Jews and money that reflected the anxieties...

This new-fangled age -- From ancient constitution to mosaic republic -- A new system of civil and commercial government -- The natural relation of things -- A state within a state -- The Israelites and the aristocracy -- Jews, commerce, and history -- Capitalism and the Jews -- Afterward :...