The Gift is a brilliantly orchestrated defense of the value of creative labor and its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities. With great sensitivity and insight, Lewis Hyde traces the history of art and gift exchange from funeral traditions to modern economic theory, from tribal customs to copyright law. A gift, he explains, must always move—unlike a commodity, it is given away again, not kept. Along the way, he draws into his discussion of great writers, from Walt Whitman to Ezra Pound to Maya Angelou. This book is even more necessary today than when it first appeared. Illuminating, transformative, and completely original in its view of the world, cherished by artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers, it is in itself a gift to all who discover the timeless wisdom found in its pages.