The Great Leveler
Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
The Great Leveler
Buy Now for $24.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joel Richards
-
By:
-
Walter Scheidel
About this listen
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 inequality never dies peacefully. Inequality declines when carnage and disaster strike and increases when peace and stability return. 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.
Ever since humans began to farm, herd livestock, and pass on their assets to future generations, economic inequality has been a defining feature of civilization. Over thousands of years, only violent events have significantly lessened inequality. The "Four Horsemen" of leveling - mass-mobilization warfare, transformative revolutions, state collapse, and catastrophic plagues - have repeatedly destroyed the fortunes of the rich.
Scheidel identifies and examines these processes, from the crises of the earliest civilizations to the cataclysmic world wars and communist revolutions of the 20th century. 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.
©2017 Princeton University Press (P)2017 TantorCritic Reviews
What listeners say about The Great Leveler
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cuinn Herrick
- 22-06-2018
Emperical analysis of the problem
Excellently presented ideas. Would have liked it presented in chronological order though as I unexpectedly learnt so much history from this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- steve
- 17-05-2018
The main ideas are interesting but....
Downloaded this after hearing Jordan Peterson mention it constantly. I guess it has some valuable ideas but it's one of those things I think you could really get to the heart of in a few pages. Most of the book is then a historical exercise in backing up those ideas which is super boring unless you're obsessed with the subject. And unless you're an anthropologist or something like that it's really hard to judge the veracity of the author's conclusions as he doesn't seem to be trying too hard to test his theory, more that he's gathering evidence for it. I'm definitely not suggesting that he's wrong just that it all seems to go in one direction the whole time.
I'll be honest, I'm not obsessed with the subject and gave up in the end. It was too much like trying to eat a bowl of cardboard, just chewing your way through it for the sake of getting to the end.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful