What do you think?
Rate this book
Losing Interest: The Antisocial History of Economic Growth
Nothing about endless capitalist growth is normal.
Across thousands of years of human history, most cultures have placed explicit social and moral restrictions on economic growth, with charging interest scorned as benefiting from another's hardship and profit-making as divisive. So how did interest rates, monetary gains, and return on investment come to rule our modern world?
Though most economic histories tell this story as one of overcoming superstition in favor of social progress, Losing Interest explains how the concept of “interest” had to be continuously rehabilitated over six centuries of European colonial expansion, transforming profit from a mortal sin into a business model. From early Medici innovations in banking to the development of insurance schemes in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, our current economic system was built on legal and financial tools that abstract capital from the ongoing reality of deception, theft, and mass murder at its core.
With wit and lyricism, anthropologist Scott W. Schwartz makes a clear, commonsense appeal for our shared wellbeing against capitalism's nonsensical demand for widespread suffering to produce the mounting wealth of the few. In the spirit of David Graeber, Thomas Piketty, and Kohei Saito, Losing Interest serves as a prequel to contemporary degrowth literature, illuminating the history and mechanics of how interest has risen to take from the poor and give to the rich.
Across thousands of years of human history, most cultures have placed explicit social and moral restrictions on economic growth, with charging interest scorned as benefiting from another's hardship and profit-making as divisive. So how did interest rates, monetary gains, and return on investment come to rule our modern world?
Though most economic histories tell this story as one of overcoming superstition in favor of social progress, Losing Interest explains how the concept of “interest” had to be continuously rehabilitated over six centuries of European colonial expansion, transforming profit from a mortal sin into a business model. From early Medici innovations in banking to the development of insurance schemes in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, our current economic system was built on legal and financial tools that abstract capital from the ongoing reality of deception, theft, and mass murder at its core.
With wit and lyricism, anthropologist Scott W. Schwartz makes a clear, commonsense appeal for our shared wellbeing against capitalism's nonsensical demand for widespread suffering to produce the mounting wealth of the few. In the spirit of David Graeber, Thomas Piketty, and Kohei Saito, Losing Interest serves as a prequel to contemporary degrowth literature, illuminating the history and mechanics of how interest has risen to take from the poor and give to the rich.
238 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 21, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 28, 2026
I must admit that I rarely seek out books on economics, which ends up being a flaw of mine when trying to discuss my opposition to capitalism. I usually end up reading these sorts of things when a publisher sends them out with another book I've requested which is the case with this book in particular. That said, I found Losing Interest to be quite interesting, no pun intended.
This is an academic text that starts off quite readable but gets a bit more jargony as it progresses. It still was something I was able to grasp with effort. The discussion is generally around ideas of degrowth, using interest as the central point of discussion. This book made me realize that even as an anti-capitalist, there is a lot of internalized capitalism that I didn't even realize I had rattling around in my skull. It is so ingrained in USAmerican culture and politics to constantly be seeking some sort of growth and progress of the economy, that it almost seems to be the default state of things. As if it is some sort of constant that will exist no matter what or at least should be supported without question.
In this short text, Scott W Schwartz proposes the idea that we just stop. It's well understood that constant growth, production, destruction, and exploitation of the planet and and all who inhabit it is beyond unsustainable, yet there is still this idea in every politician's mind, even those who lean to the left, that growing the economy is one of the most important goals. It's interesting reading the history of how this was not only not always the case, but very frowned upon and cultures across the world. Growing wealth was not only disdained, but often regulated against and various government systems. Capitalism and other forces changed this and lead us to the dystopia that we live in today.
Schwartz discusses banking, insurance, and investment systems in this text. Those are all to be expected in this sort of discussion. The end of the text focuses a bit on the idea of the future. This impending thing that we all must always be preparing for. This idea strengthens the urge to be constantly growing wealth in some way in order to prepare. The author challenges this idea. At this point the book was on the more academic side and I can't fully summarize the argument in a small space like this. I can say that it really had me thinking about my leftist prepper mindset and the financial aspects of it.
Overall, this book was a worthwhile and somewhat accessible read that got me thinking about things a little differently.
This was also posted to my storygraph and blog.
This is an academic text that starts off quite readable but gets a bit more jargony as it progresses. It still was something I was able to grasp with effort. The discussion is generally around ideas of degrowth, using interest as the central point of discussion. This book made me realize that even as an anti-capitalist, there is a lot of internalized capitalism that I didn't even realize I had rattling around in my skull. It is so ingrained in USAmerican culture and politics to constantly be seeking some sort of growth and progress of the economy, that it almost seems to be the default state of things. As if it is some sort of constant that will exist no matter what or at least should be supported without question.
In this short text, Scott W Schwartz proposes the idea that we just stop. It's well understood that constant growth, production, destruction, and exploitation of the planet and and all who inhabit it is beyond unsustainable, yet there is still this idea in every politician's mind, even those who lean to the left, that growing the economy is one of the most important goals. It's interesting reading the history of how this was not only not always the case, but very frowned upon and cultures across the world. Growing wealth was not only disdained, but often regulated against and various government systems. Capitalism and other forces changed this and lead us to the dystopia that we live in today.
Schwartz discusses banking, insurance, and investment systems in this text. Those are all to be expected in this sort of discussion. The end of the text focuses a bit on the idea of the future. This impending thing that we all must always be preparing for. This idea strengthens the urge to be constantly growing wealth in some way in order to prepare. The author challenges this idea. At this point the book was on the more academic side and I can't fully summarize the argument in a small space like this. I can say that it really had me thinking about my leftist prepper mindset and the financial aspects of it.
Overall, this book was a worthwhile and somewhat accessible read that got me thinking about things a little differently.
This was also posted to my storygraph and blog.
May 30, 2026
I really liked the premise of this book— an examination of the role that interest, banking, and investment have had in shaping late-stage capitalism and the ways that these practices have been normalized as inevitable. The author explored the strong cultural and religious prohibitions against interest/ usury for much of human history and across many societies, and traced the gradual acceptance of wealth accumulation and growth as categorical goods.
While I appreciated the perspective shift that this book offered, it was incredibly verbose and hard to read. Almost every paragraph has not one but a handful of quotes and citations and paraphrased statements, and his sentences are sometimes so abstract and academic that they almost lose all meaning. Take the opening of his acknowledgements: “Angular gratitude and molecular appreciation buckle the memory. It’s impossible to acknowledge all the ulterior provocateurs that smuggled ideas into this book, but ac_knowledge_ment is a necessary X-ray revealing the underflesh of knowledge.” Sir, this is a Wendy’s. I still gave the book a high rating because I value the work of AK Press and I support the underlying project behind this book, but it needs some serious editing.
While I appreciated the perspective shift that this book offered, it was incredibly verbose and hard to read. Almost every paragraph has not one but a handful of quotes and citations and paraphrased statements, and his sentences are sometimes so abstract and academic that they almost lose all meaning. Take the opening of his acknowledgements: “Angular gratitude and molecular appreciation buckle the memory. It’s impossible to acknowledge all the ulterior provocateurs that smuggled ideas into this book, but ac_knowledge_ment is a necessary X-ray revealing the underflesh of knowledge.” Sir, this is a Wendy’s. I still gave the book a high rating because I value the work of AK Press and I support the underlying project behind this book, but it needs some serious editing.
September 7, 2026
I've been down on Capitalism lately. You see it all around you. A stock market that grows and appears completely untethered from the actual economy, which is beset with inflation and wage stagnation. The first trillionaire and unprecedented accumulations of wealth, while Artificial Intelligence looms and threatens your job, if you still have one. A global North riding uneven prosperity on the backs of an exploited global South.
Amid this anxiety, Schwartz's book offers the exhilaration of new ideas and hope. Capitalism not only promises infinite growth, it demands it, and growth requires exploitation, both of resources and people. But resources are not infinite, and the promise is doomed to fail. When Capitalism fails in its promise of growth, historically, economies collapse, the capitalized drivers of the economy must be bailed out by the rest to restart the Capitalist engine, and when the dust settles wealth inequality is even further exacerbated.
Through the lenses of interest, insurance, banking, and stock markets, Schwartz offers a critique of Capitalism and its touted benefits, and as an anthropologist, looks to pre-Capitalist economies to determine how societies lived when normalized Capitalism was not the water in which everyone swam, and when the winners weren't so few and so exalted while the losers weren't so many and so impoverished. Interest in particular is a major driver of wealth disparities and a vital cog in the Capitalist machine, and emblematic of our current age, when growth is the mandate, whereas earlier societies considered morality a greater mandate than growth. As Schwartz points out, pre-Capitalist societies outlawed usury, and often interest, based on moral precepts handed down and written in holy books, rooted in ideas about fairness. Over time, these restrictions became relaxed through clever loopholes, and led to economies more worried about growth in the future than well-being and fairness in the present.
I may not totally agree with everything in Schwartz's book, but much of it for me was revelatory, and in less than two hundred pages he radically changed my perspective.
Amid this anxiety, Schwartz's book offers the exhilaration of new ideas and hope. Capitalism not only promises infinite growth, it demands it, and growth requires exploitation, both of resources and people. But resources are not infinite, and the promise is doomed to fail. When Capitalism fails in its promise of growth, historically, economies collapse, the capitalized drivers of the economy must be bailed out by the rest to restart the Capitalist engine, and when the dust settles wealth inequality is even further exacerbated.
Through the lenses of interest, insurance, banking, and stock markets, Schwartz offers a critique of Capitalism and its touted benefits, and as an anthropologist, looks to pre-Capitalist economies to determine how societies lived when normalized Capitalism was not the water in which everyone swam, and when the winners weren't so few and so exalted while the losers weren't so many and so impoverished. Interest in particular is a major driver of wealth disparities and a vital cog in the Capitalist machine, and emblematic of our current age, when growth is the mandate, whereas earlier societies considered morality a greater mandate than growth. As Schwartz points out, pre-Capitalist societies outlawed usury, and often interest, based on moral precepts handed down and written in holy books, rooted in ideas about fairness. Over time, these restrictions became relaxed through clever loopholes, and led to economies more worried about growth in the future than well-being and fairness in the present.
I may not totally agree with everything in Schwartz's book, but much of it for me was revelatory, and in less than two hundred pages he radically changed my perspective.
July 21, 2026
Mais um livro pra me deixar triste e puto. Eu preciso parar com isso.
Achei a linguagem desnecessariamente complexa e o texto desncessariamente longo e verboso, mas o conteúdo é bem legal. A discussão é bem filosófica, então não sei até onde as críticas e exemplos são 'válidos', mas achei bem convincente.
Saber que cobrar juros era literalmente crime até outro dia e que a maioria das culturas humanas rejeita veementemente essa prática me pegou de surpresa.
Em resumo: comer os ricos continua sendo uma boa idea.
Achei a linguagem desnecessariamente complexa e o texto desncessariamente longo e verboso, mas o conteúdo é bem legal. A discussão é bem filosófica, então não sei até onde as críticas e exemplos são 'válidos', mas achei bem convincente.
Saber que cobrar juros era literalmente crime até outro dia e que a maioria das culturas humanas rejeita veementemente essa prática me pegou de surpresa.
Em resumo: comer os ricos continua sendo uma boa idea.
October 2, 2026
Very interesting and eye opening book. I'm not sure if I personally agree with the author on everything presented, but it's given me some new perspectives to consider and provoked some uncomfortable thoughts, which is what I look for in a book like this. Fairly easy and quick read but information dense.
May 9, 2026
It seems like 1649 was a huge moment when it all really went off in the wrong direction, leading us to where we are now.
This is quite broad and short, but it was really digestible. My face was either like 😫 or 🤬 the whole time.
4.5
This is quite broad and short, but it was really digestible. My face was either like 😫 or 🤬 the whole time.
4.5
May 17, 2026
Rich people are bad. Rich people earn money from interest, therefore interest is bad. This is the extent of author's understanding of what interest is.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews