Try free for 30 days

  • The Great Leveler

  • Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
  • By: Walter Scheidel
  • Narrated by: Joel Richards
  • Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (20 ratings)

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
The Great Leveler cover art

The Great Leveler

By: Walter Scheidel
Narrated by: Joel Richards
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $24.37

Buy Now for $24.37

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

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 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic Reviews

"Sweeping and provocative." ( New Yorker)

What listeners say about The Great Leveler

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.