Interest-Free Money - A Book-List

The following is a collection that examines the history and effects of charging interest on lent money. I’d be glad to receive suggested additions that explain, not the ills of the present economic system, but which cover specific discussions of usury and descriptions for its replacement.

John Courtneidge <courtj@myphone.coop>
Networking for The Campaign for Interest-Free Money

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Margrit Kennedy  ‘'Interest and Inflation-Free Money’
New Society Publishers, Philadelphia, USA, 1995
(USA ISBN 0-86571-319-7)
A good - almost unique book - explaining the effects of interest on daily life and the way it stops civilised life developing.
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James Buchan  ‘Frozen Desire: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Money’
Picador, London, 1997
ISBN 0-330-36931-8 (paperback)
A lyrical book, written by a novelist and journalist, that examines the history of money and our relationship with it. Widely available.
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Dorothy Rowe  ‘The Real Meaning of Money’
Harper Collins, London, 1997
ISBN 0-025-5329-5 (Also now available in paperback)
An extensive examination of the interaction of individuals and money, written by a well-known and widely-published psychologist.
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Peter Selby   ‘Grace and Mortgage:
The Language of Faith and the Debt of the World’
Darton, Longman and Todd, London, 1997
ISBN 0-232-521700 (Paperback)
Written by the Anglican Bishop of Worcester, this marks an important step in the Established Church’s rediscovery of "ancient wisdoms."
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Sir Harry Page  ‘In Restraint of Usury: The Lending of Money at Interest’
Chartered Institute for Public Finances and Accounts (CIPFA),
London, 1985. ISBN 0-85299-2858
Written by a former President of CIPFA and past Treasurer of the City of Manchester, this small book tells what most other historians leave out - the first legalisation of usury by Henry VIII in 1545. Sadly now out of print, this points out the disastrous effect that usury has on providing quality public services and the resulting misery caused.
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Christopher Hill  ‘Reformation To Industrial Revolution’
Pelican Economic History, Volume 2: 1530-1780
Penguin, London, 1969.
Although this misses Henry’s Act of 1545, it is a  first-rate account of the struggles between Westminster and the City of London: particularly valuable is Chapter 6 ‘The Financial Revolution.’
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Bertrand Russell  ‘A History of Western Philosophy’
Allen and Unwin, London, 1946
Passes the ‘U-test’ - contains an excellent and concise examination of usury (via the index.)
***********************************************************Chris Harman  ‘Economics of The Madhouse: Capitalism and the Market Today’
Bookmarks, London, 1995
ISBN 1-898876-03-7 (Paperback)
Good, short, readable account of Marx’ insights into the way usury-driven economics (capitalism!) works - easily recognisable to any who have been in business.)
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Gary Allen   ‘None Dare Call It Conspiracy’
Concord Books, Seal Beach, California, 1971
(Also Britons Publishing Co, 1973)
Some-times hair-raising account of the relationships between the banking communities across the globe: the material here has been examined by G William Dommen ‘Who Runs America Now’ Touchstone Books.
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Peter Lang   ‘LETS Work: Rebuilding The Local Economy’
Grover Books, Bristol, England BS6 5QA
ISBN 1 899233 00 8
Fine account of locally-created interest-free money. Wonderful quote from Alan Watts (Chapter 1: Money: what it is and how it lets us down)
"The Absurdity of It: . . . To say that people cannot exchange value with one another because there is no money is like saying you cannot build a house because you have no feet and inches."
(To which I might add, that paying interest on lent money is as ludicrous as the builder paying the feet and inches a wage, once the house is built!)
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Also Michael Rowbotham's 'The Grip of Death' and 'Goodbye America' both published by Jon Carpenter, 1999 and 2000, are good on Fractional Reserve Banking
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