A Brief History of Equality

A New York Times Book Review Editors' ChoiceA Public Books Best Book of the Year"An opportunity for readers to see Piketty bring his larger argument about the origins of inequality and his program for fighting it into high relief."--Nicholas Lemann, New York TimesThe world's leading economist of inequality presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters, and backsliding. A perfect introduction to the ideas developed in his monumental earlier books.It's easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts of the world over the past two generations. No one has done more to reveal the problem than Thomas Piketty. Now, in this surprising and powerful new work, Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the centuries, he shows, we have been moving toward greater equality.Piketty guides us with elegance and concision through the