Good Tidings Made Visible: Re-enactments of the Nativity from the Middle Ages to the Present. Lenke Kovács and Francesc Massip, eds. Problemata Literaria 90. Kassel: Edition Reichenberger, 2020. xii + 312 pp. €43.

Abstract

epoch characterized by debt of a ubiquity and magnitude unknown to any other society in history, an era of borrowed time” (15). I am not convinced that the book really talks about the “beginnings of an epoch,” but it is surely interesting—and very much appreciated—that it describes several kinds of credit relations, the contexts in which they took place, and their importance in the everyday lives of individuals belonging to a diverse social milieu. The wide geographical and chronological openness of the book is perhaps one of its most interesting features. I enjoyed reading about the variety of credit systems as well as discovering the diverse meanings and logics of credit. On a few occasions, the essays tended to digress from the core theme of the book, which could be rather confusing. However, the authors often managed to provide vivid descriptions of individuals and their lives in the early modern period, illustrating the central role played by credit and debt relations. From this point of view, the persistent link between archival documentation and literature is certainly an added value. To sum up, this edited volume is an important contribution that should be read by all economic historians of financial markets, as it offers an interesting view of cultural aspects that are often overlooked by the literature on the topic.