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''Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth'' is a non-fiction book written by Margaret Atwood, about the nature of debt, for the 2008 Massey Lectures. Each of the book's five chapters was delivered as a one-hour lecture in a different Canadian city, beginning in St. John's, Newfoundland, on October 12 and ending in Toronto on November 1. The lectures were broadcast on CBC Radio One's ''Ideas'' November 10–14. The book was published by House of Anansi Press, both in paperback and in a limited edition hardcover. The lectures and book had been originally scheduled for 2009, but were moved up to 2008 to avoid conflicting with Atwood's forthcoming novel after the latter book was delayed by its publisher. The content examines borrowing and lending from financial, psychological, theological, literary, and ecological points of view. Its release coincided with extensive media coverage of the recent financial crisis which led numerous critics to comment on the book's timeliness. In the Canadian market, the book peaked at #1 on the ''The Globe and Mail'' bestseller list on October 25 and out-sold all previous Massey Lecture books. Critics found the book well-researched, thought-provoking, and humorous. Various reviewers found the discussions on the non-monetary aspects of debt to be the better parts of the book, while some critics identified the sections on ecological debt as the worse parts of the book. Atwood's Massey Lectures have been adapted as a 2012 documentary ''Payback'', produced by the National Film Board of Canada, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. ==Background== Toronto-based author Margaret Atwood was asked several times over numerous years to deliver a Massey Lecture, which would be broadcast over the radio on CBC Radio One's ''Ideas'' and published by the House of Anansi Press. When she finally agreed, she chose her subject to be sociobiology of literary criticism, and specifically how an author's gender and age affects critical reception.〔 However, after delivering lectures at Oxford University and Cambridge University on similar topics she re-considered her choice.〔 She began thinking of 'debt' as a topic after writing "Letter to America" for ''The Globe and Mail'' in March 2003 (later reprinted in ''The Nation'') regarding the pending invasion of Iraq and asking whether Americans understood the debt to which they were committing. Atwood was scheduled to release her new novel in fall 2008 and deliver the Massey Lectures in fall 2009. At the insistence of Atwood's American editor at Doubleday, her Canadian and British editors and agents agreed in January 2008 to postpone the release of her novel by one year to avoid competing with the US Presidential election for attention. The people organizing the Massey Lectures, Sarah McLachlan of House of Anansi Press, John Fraser of Massey College, and Bernie Lucht of CBC's ''Ideas'', discovered this re-scheduling via a newspaper article. They asked Atwood to deliver her lectures in fall 2008, meaning the text would be due in June. She agreed on condition of Massey College providing research and technical assistance. The text was written between late January and June 2008, during which Atwood took time for two vacations (birding in Cuba and in France). The original title was to be ''Debt'' but Scott Griffin, owner of House of Anansi Press, convinced Atwood to change it to something less depressing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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