A Brief History of Equality

By: Thomas Piketty

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

The 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 is 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 great movements that have made the modern world for better and worse: the growth of capitalism, revolutions, imperialism, slavery, wars, and the building of the welfare state. It’s a history of violence and social struggle, punctuated by regression and disaster. But through it all, Piketty shows, human societies have moved fitfully toward a more just distribution of income and assets, a reduction of racial and gender inequalities, and greater access to health care, education, and the rights of citizenship.

Our rough march forward is political and ideological, an endless fight against injustice. To keep moving, Piketty argues, we need to learn and commit to what works, to institutional, legal, social, fiscal, and educational systems that can make equality a lasting reality. At the same time, we need to resist historical amnesia and the temptations of cultural separatism and intellectual compartmentalization. At stake is the quality of life for billions of people.

We know we can do better, Piketty concludes. The past shows us how. The future is up to us.

©2022 the President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2022 the President and Fellows of Harvard College

Great inside into the human history

Great. Easy to read, Very clear, with a simple line of undestanding. Piketty to me is the most importan economist nowdays.

Quite needed and timely

Great review of the insane amount of inequality. It could be fought but probably only through mass mobilisation of the people. Good read.

Pointed, useful analysis.

Important ideas and historical context for the economic decisions ahead. We have more options than we tend to think.

Required reading for a more equitable future

I first heard the author on The Ezra Cline show and was fascinated by his presentation of the concept of a national inheritance. His exposition of an alternative socioeconomic framework for the future is riveting. Well written, sourced and illuminated this truly is a book I wish everyone could read.

Terrible narrator

The content of the book is fantastic. Piketty is really a spectacular mind. The narration of the audiobook was really annoying because the narrator speaks like a robot. I literally had to look up whether the book was narrated using AI. He has no inflection, no rhythm, and the subject of the book is already fairly dense, so having an absolutely dry, wooden narrator made it a slog. I gave 2 stars instead of 1 because he at least has a nice voice. I just wish he'd use it better when narrating.