Shell Game : A True Account of Beads and Money in North America

An investigation into the nature of money & human exchange, this book intertwines 2 stories. One starts in Manhattan in 1627 with the transactions by which North Amer. was boughtÓ by Europe. Shows how a gift relationship based on beads was replaced by monetary relations based on credit, & how ancient ways of bookkeeping, exemplified by the Iroquois wampum exchange, were replaced by a social contract based on scarcity & deficit. There is a parallel story set in the present in which he attempts to negotiate a book advance, & unravel a personal tangle of love & habit in his life. His search becomes an apology for cultural & monetary misappropriation.Martien, Jerry is the author of 'Shell Game : A True Account of Beads and Money in North America', published 2000 under ISBN 9780788157851 and ISBN 078815785X.