Overview

Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that it never dies peacefully. The Great Leveler is the first book to chart the crucial role of violent shocks in reducing inequality over the full sweep of human history around the world. The Four Horsemen of leveling--mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and catastrophic plagues--have repeatedly destroyed the fortunes of the rich. Today, the violence that reduced inequality in the past seems to have diminished, and that is a good thing. But it casts serious doubt on the prospects for a more equal future. An essential contribution to the debate about inequality, The Great Leveler provides important new insights about why inequality is so persistent--and why it is unlikely to decline anytime soon.

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One of The Wall Street Journal's What Business Leaders Read in 2017, chosen by Mohamed A. El-Erian One of The New York Times Deal Book Business Books Worth Reading 2017 (chosen by Andrew Sorkin) One of Project Syndicate's Best Reads in 2017 (chosen by Dambisa Moyo) Shortlisted for the 2017 Cundill History Prize, McGill University Selected for The HCSS Bookshelf (chosen by Stephan De Spiegeleire) 2017 One of the Microsoft Best Business Books of 2017 One of BBC History Magazine's Books of the Year 2017 One of the Economist.com 2017 Books of the Year in Economics and Business One of the CNBC 13 Best Business Books of 2017 One of Financial Times (FT.com) Best Books of 2017: Economics, chosen by Martin Wolf strategy+business Best Business Book of 2017 in Economics Medium.com's Books of the Year 2017, chosen by Mark Koyama One of World's 2017 Books of the Year in Understanding the World Shortlisted for the 2017 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

One of the Microsoft Best Business Books of 2017 One of BBC History Magazine's Books of the Year 2017 One of the Economist.com 2017 Books of the Year in Economics and Business One of the CNBC 13 Best Business Books of 2017 One of Financial Times (FT.com) Best Books of 2017: Economics, chosen by Martin Wolf Medium.com's Books of the Year 2017, chosen by Mark Koyama Shortlisted for the 2017 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award One of The Wall Street Journal's What Business Leaders Read in 2017, chosen by Mohamed A. El-Erian One of The New York Times Deal Book Business Books Worth Reading 2017 (chosen by Andrew Sorkin) One of Project Syndicate's Best Reads in 2017 (chosen by Dambisa Moyo) Shortlisted for the 2017 Cundill History Prize, McGill University Selected for The HCSS Bookshelf (chosen by Stephan De Spiegeleire) 2017 strategy+business Best Business Book of 2017 in Economics One of World's 2017 Books of the Year in Understanding the World

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