The Economist
"As a supplier of momentary relief, the Great Depression seems an unlikely candidate. . . . Yes, it brought widespread suffering and dreadful misery. But it did not bring death to millions, and in that it stands out. If that counts as relief, you can begin to imagine the scale of the woe that comes before and after. [Scheidel] puts the discussion of increased inequality found in the recent work of Thomas Piketty, Anthony Atkinson, Branko Milanovic and others into a broad historical context and examines the circumstances under which it can be reduced."
Choice
"This book will be widely read and spur a wave of critical scholarship."
Pennsylvania Literary Journal
"It is a very good thing that this book was written as we definitely need to understand inequality and how to avoid it to make this world tolerable."
From the Publisher
Shortlisted for the 2017 Cundill History Prize, McGill University
Shortlisted for the 2017 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
strategy+business Best Business Book of 2017 in Economics
One of The New York Times Deal Book “Business Books Worth Reading” 2017 (chosen by Andrew Sorkin)
One of The Wall Street Journal’s What Business Leaders Read in 2017
Selected for The HCSS Bookshelf (chosen by Stephan De Spiegeleire) 2017
One of BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2017
One of the Microsoft Best Business Books of 2017
One of Project Syndicate’s Best Reads in 2017 (chosen by Dambisa Moyo)
One of the Economist.com “2017 Books of the Year” in Economics and Business
One of Financial Times (FT.com) Best Books of 2017: Economics, chosen by Martin Wolf
One of The Wall Street Journal’s What Business Leaders Read in 2017, chosen by Mohamed A. El-Erian
One of the CNBC 13 Best Business Books of 2017
One of World’s 2017 Books of the Year in “Understanding the World”
Medium.com’s Books of the Year 2017, chosen by Mark Koyama
"Walter Scheidel’s The Great Leveler is a smartly argued book. As you may be able to tell from the title, Mr. Scheidel makes the case that throughout history, inequality has led only to terrible things (think pandemics and wars). For anybody who has ever debated issues related to inequality and their broader meaning, this book provides more than just a powerful thought experiment."—-Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times
"Mr. Scheidel's depressing view is bound to upset [those] who quite naturally might prefer to live in a world in which events might move political and social systems to figure out a more equitable way to distribute the fruits of growth without the plague, the guillotine or state collapse."—-Eduardo Porter, New York Times
Kirkus
"A thoroughly unsunny . . . but fascinating look at the engines of our discontent."
The New Yorker
"Sweeping and provocative."
New Yorker
"Sweeping and provocative."
The New Yorker
"Sweeping and provocative."
JOE Media
"A very perky story…if anyone wants to be lifted up then this is the book for you"
New Yorker
"Sweeping and provocative."
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
"Sweeping and provocative." —New Yorker
