Coda

The coda tracks the afterlife of structures discussed earlier in the book, attending both to change and continuity. Today, personal creditworthiness is represented in numerical credit scores, and individuals often feel disconnected from the abstract, barely visible networks of global finance. Yet even within this economy—as different as it is from early modern England’s—the need for trust persists, and skills in rhetoric and interpretation remain valuable. The coda ends by linking classical theories of poetic and rhetorical efficacy to early modern practical literature, and both to modern advice on the importance of impression management in business and advertising.