In the 2008 Massey Lectures, Margaret Atwood takes a wide-ranging, entertaining and imaginative approach to the subject of debt. Debt, she says, is like air - something we take for granted until things go wrong. And then, while gasping for breath, we become very interested in it. She writes, "These are not lectures about how to get out of debt; rather, they're about the debtor/creditor twinship in the broadest sense - from human sacrifice to pawnshops to revenge. In this light, what we owe and how we pay is a feature of all human societies, and profoundly shapes our shared values and our cultures."

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Massey Lectures 2008, "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth"