Ignoring Polonius: A Review of Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink

This article reviews Louis Hyman’s book, "Debtor Nation: The History of America in Red Ink." Debtor Nation is a welcome addition to a hitherto open niche in the relatively modest canon of books on the history of debt in the United States, and no previous book has examined as closely the infrastructure and debt in the second half of the 20th century. This essay examines Debtor Nation and a series of other works to draw more fully the history of debt and debt practices in the United States.