-
The Great Leveler
- Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.77
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
-
-
Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
- By James C. Samans on 08-14-16
By: David Graeber
-
Escape from Rome
- The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity
- By: Walter Scheidel
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 21 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world?
-
-
Very interesting book, terrible narration
- By Matt Griffin on 12-03-19
By: Walter Scheidel
-
Seeing Like a State
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge.
-
-
Beats a dead horse and then beats it again
- By Nathan Parker on 10-29-20
By: James C. Scott
-
The Age of Revolution
- 1789-1848
- By: Eric Hobsbawm
- Narrated by: Hugh Kermode
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magisterial volume follows the death of ancient traditions, the triumph of new classes, and the emergence of new technologies, sciences, and ideologies, with vast intellectual daring and aphoristic elegance. Part of Eric Hobsbawm's epic four-volume history of the modern world, along with The Age of Capitalism, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes.
-
-
Brilliant Materialist Interpretation
- By Earth Lover on 05-16-20
By: Eric Hobsbawm
-
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories.
-
-
The Financial Times' Critique Doesn't Detract
- By Madeleine on 05-22-14
By: Thomas Piketty, and others
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
World without Women
- By Paul Richards on 04-28-18
By: James C. Scott
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
-
-
Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
- By James C. Samans on 08-14-16
By: David Graeber
-
Escape from Rome
- The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity
- By: Walter Scheidel
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 21 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world?
-
-
Very interesting book, terrible narration
- By Matt Griffin on 12-03-19
By: Walter Scheidel
-
Seeing Like a State
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge.
-
-
Beats a dead horse and then beats it again
- By Nathan Parker on 10-29-20
By: James C. Scott
-
The Age of Revolution
- 1789-1848
- By: Eric Hobsbawm
- Narrated by: Hugh Kermode
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This magisterial volume follows the death of ancient traditions, the triumph of new classes, and the emergence of new technologies, sciences, and ideologies, with vast intellectual daring and aphoristic elegance. Part of Eric Hobsbawm's epic four-volume history of the modern world, along with The Age of Capitalism, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes.
-
-
Brilliant Materialist Interpretation
- By Earth Lover on 05-16-20
By: Eric Hobsbawm
-
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories.
-
-
The Financial Times' Critique Doesn't Detract
- By Madeleine on 05-22-14
By: Thomas Piketty, and others
-
Against the Grain
- A Deep History of the Earliest States
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative.
-
-
World without Women
- By Paul Richards on 04-28-18
By: James C. Scott
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- By: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
-
Everyone dies except Americans
- By preetam on 06-22-22
By: Peter Zeihan
-
The Thirty Years War
- Europe's Tragedy
- By: Peter H. Wilson
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 33 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.
-
-
Best Single-Volume History of the 30 Years' War
- By Amazon Customer on 10-09-23
By: Peter H. Wilson
-
Capital and Ideology
- By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 48 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Piketty’s best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system.
-
-
Big thinking at its finest
- By Amazon Customer on 03-20-20
By: Thomas Piketty, and others
-
The War on the West
- By: Douglas Murray
- Narrated by: Douglas Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The War on the West, Douglas Murray shows how many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric. After all, if we must discard the ideas of Kant, Hume, and Mill for their opinions on race, shouldn’t we discard Marx, whose work is peppered with racial slurs and anti-Semitism? Embers of racism remain to be stamped out in America, but what about the raging racist inferno in the Middle East and Asia?
-
-
Every Human (seriously, everyone) Read This!
- By aaron on 04-27-22
By: Douglas Murray
-
Energy and Civilization
- A History
- By: Vaclav Smil
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 20 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel-driven civilization and offers listeners a magisterial overview of humanity's energy eras.
-
-
Not a good format for this book
- By C. Hoogeboom on 05-19-18
By: Vaclav Smil
-
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
- By: Thomas S. Kuhn
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were - and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book.
-
-
The problem is not with the book
- By Marcus on 08-09-09
By: Thomas S. Kuhn
-
Why Nations Fail
- The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
-
-
Pros and Cons of "Why Nations Fail"
- By Joshua Kim on 05-01-12
By: Daron Acemoglu, and others
-
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.
-
-
Few forests, but lots of trees
- By Steve Pagano on 10-05-15
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
Knowledge and Decisions
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 20 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This reissue of Thomas Sowell’s classic study of decision making, which includes a preface by the author, updates his seminal work in the context of The Vision of the Anointed. Sowell, one of America’s most celebrated public intellectuals, describes in concrete detail how knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout modern society. He warns that society suffers from an ever-widening gap between firsthand knowledge and decision making—a gap that threatens not only our economic and political efficiency but our very freedom.
-
-
Thomas Sowell's Greatest Work
- By Doug on 12-08-12
By: Thomas Sowell
-
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
- By: Walter Rodney, Angela Y. Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the West and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the repercussions of European colonialism in Africa remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.
-
-
A Superb must read for everyone
- By Joy on 04-16-19
By: Walter Rodney, and others
-
Europe
- A History
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 61 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Norman Davies captures it all - the rise and fall of Rome, the sweeping invasions of Alaric and Atilla, the Norman Conquests, the Papal struggles for power, the Renaissance and the Reformation, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Europe's rise to become the powerhouse of the world, and its eclipse in our own century, following two devastating World Wars.
-
-
My Favorite Historian
- By bernickus on 05-14-19
By: Norman Davies
-
The Price of Time
- The Real Story of Interest
- By: Edward Chancellor
- Narrated by: Luis Soto
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the beginning was the loan, and the loan carried interest. For at least five millennia people have been borrowing and lending at interest. Yet as capitalism became established from the late Middle Ages onwards, denunciations of interest were tempered because interest was a necessary reward for lenders to part with their capital. And interest performs many other vital functions: it encourages people to save; enables them to place a value on precious assets, such as houses and all manner of financial securities; and allows us to price risk.
-
-
Big landscape in time and subjects; Austrian view
- By Philo on 08-29-22
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.
Critic reviews
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
When China Rules the World
- The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order
- By: Martin Jacques
- Narrated by: Scott Peterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy-for itself and the rest of the globe-have been surprisingly little explained or understood.
-
-
Lucid explanation of global economic trends
- By David Blake on 01-04-10
By: Martin Jacques
-
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
- By: Walter Rodney, Angela Y. Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the West and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the repercussions of European colonialism in Africa remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.
-
-
A Superb must read for everyone
- By Joy on 04-16-19
By: Walter Rodney, and others
-
The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- By: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
-
-
Unfortunately distopian for mosty of humanity
- By Phil on 09-29-20
By: James Dale Davidson, and others
-
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.
-
-
Few forests, but lots of trees
- By Steve Pagano on 10-05-15
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
The Decline and Rise of Democracy
- A Global History from Antiquity to Today
- By: David Stastavage
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer - democratic practices were present in many places at many other times. David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished - and when and why they declined - can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.
-
-
Informative
- By Frank on 12-22-20
By: David Stastavage
-
Owning the Earth
- The Transforming History of Land Ownership
- By: Andro Linklater
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history and evolution of land ownership is a fascinating chronicle in the history of civilization, offering unexpected insights about how various forms of democracy and capitalism developed, as well as a revealing analysis of a future where the Earth must sustain nine billion lives. Seen through the eyes of remarkable individuals - Chinese emperors; German peasants; the 17th century English surveyor William Petty, who first saw the connection between private property and free-market capitalism.
-
-
Interesting
- By S. Olsen on 06-30-15
By: Andro Linklater
-
When China Rules the World
- The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order
- By: Martin Jacques
- Narrated by: Scott Peterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
According to even the most conservative estimates, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and will ascend to the position of world economic leader by 2050. But the full repercussions of China's ascendancy-for itself and the rest of the globe-have been surprisingly little explained or understood.
-
-
Lucid explanation of global economic trends
- By David Blake on 01-04-10
By: Martin Jacques
-
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa
- By: Walter Rodney, Angela Y. Davis - foreword
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the West and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the repercussions of European colonialism in Africa remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.
-
-
A Superb must read for everyone
- By Joy on 04-16-19
By: Walter Rodney, and others
-
The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- By: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
-
-
Unfortunately distopian for mosty of humanity
- By Phil on 09-29-20
By: James Dale Davidson, and others
-
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.
-
-
Few forests, but lots of trees
- By Steve Pagano on 10-05-15
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
The Decline and Rise of Democracy
- A Global History from Antiquity to Today
- By: David Stastavage
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer - democratic practices were present in many places at many other times. David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished - and when and why they declined - can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.
-
-
Informative
- By Frank on 12-22-20
By: David Stastavage
-
Owning the Earth
- The Transforming History of Land Ownership
- By: Andro Linklater
- Narrated by: J. Paul Guimont
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history and evolution of land ownership is a fascinating chronicle in the history of civilization, offering unexpected insights about how various forms of democracy and capitalism developed, as well as a revealing analysis of a future where the Earth must sustain nine billion lives. Seen through the eyes of remarkable individuals - Chinese emperors; German peasants; the 17th century English surveyor William Petty, who first saw the connection between private property and free-market capitalism.
-
-
Interesting
- By S. Olsen on 06-30-15
By: Andro Linklater
-
Forgotten Continent
- The Battle for Latin America’s Soul
- By: Michael Reid
- Narrated by: Gary Dikeos
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape.
-
-
Good Reporting / Disorganized Content
- By Steven Schuster on 02-11-12
By: Michael Reid
-
The Great Degeneration
- How Institutions Decay and Economies Die
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Paul Slack
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and world-renowned historian Niall Ferguson has won widespread acclaim for thought-provoking works such as Civilization and High Financier. The Great Degeneration tackles nothing less than the decline of Western civilization. Ferguson posits that slowing growth, outrageous debt, and antisocial behavior are contributing to the erosion of the West’s once rock-solid foundations. Ferguson excavates the causes and shows how heroic leadership and radical reform are needed to right the course.
-
-
Superb as always!
- By Ivanhoe on 08-28-17
By: Niall Ferguson
-
The Human Tide
- How Population Shaped the Modern World
- By: Paul Morland
- Narrated by: Zeb Soanes
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rise and fall of the British Empire; the emergence of America as a superpower; the ebb and flow of global challenges from Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Soviet Russia. These are the headlines of history, but they cannot be properly grasped without understanding the role that population has played. The Human Tide shows how periods of rapid population transition - a phenomenon that first emerged in the British Isles but gradually spread across the globe - shaped the course of world history.
-
-
dry
- By Ralph C. on 05-02-19
By: Paul Morland
-
Red Flags
- Why Xi's China Is in Jeopardy
- By: George Magnus
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past four decades, China's remarkable transformation has garnered admiration but also sparked concern. George Magnus draws on his intimate knowledge of this dynamic nation to uncover the origins of its ascent and show why the economic traps it faces at home and the political challenges it faces abroad pose a serious threat to its continued rise.
-
-
A pessimistic vision with western liberal bias
- By Jeronimo L. Jimenez on 10-23-20
By: George Magnus
-
Dead Aid
- Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
- By: Dambisa Moyo, Niall Ferguson - foreword
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A national best-seller, Dead Aid unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined - and millions continue to suffer. Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Dambisa Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing the development of the world's poorest countries.
-
-
Dangerous / Right Wing US view
- By David O'Donovan on 03-05-19
By: Dambisa Moyo, and others
-
The Journey of Humanity
- The Origins of Wealth and Inequality
- By: Oded Galor
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why are humans the only species to have escaped—only very recently—the subsistence trap, allowing us to enjoy a standard of living that vastly exceeds all others? And why have we progressed so unequally around the world, resulting in the great disparities between nations that exist today? Galor’s gripping narrative explains how technology, population size, and adaptation led to a stunning “phase change” in the human story a mere two hundred years ago.
-
-
promoting innovation and industrial disease
- By Anonymous User on 01-18-24
By: Oded Galor
-
The Technology Trap
- Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation
- By: Carl Benedikt Frey
- Narrated by: Richard Lyddon
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Industrial Revolution to the age of artificial intelligence, The Technology Trap takes a sweeping look at the history of technological progress and how it has radically shifted the distribution of economic and political power among society’s members.
-
-
Very good
- By Brad on 07-04-19
-
The Economics of Inequality
- By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Succinct, accessible, and authoritative, Thomas Piketty’s The Economics of Inequality is the ideal place to start for those who want to understand the fundamental issues at the heart of one the most pressing concerns in contemporary economics and politics. This work now appears in English for the first time.
-
-
A Survey of the Economics of Inequality
- By Darwin8u on 12-19-16
By: Thomas Piketty, and others
-
The End of Normal
- The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth
- By: James K. Galbraith
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The years since the Great Crisis of 2008 have seen slow growth, high unemployment, falling home values, chronic deficits, a deepening disaster in Europe - and a stale argument between two false solutions, “austerity” on one side and “stimulus” on the other. Both sides and practically all analyses of the crisis so far take for granted that the economic growth from the early 1950s until 2000 - interrupted only by the troubled 1970s - represented a normal performance.
-
China's Economy
- What Everyone Needs to Know®
- By: Arthur R. Kroeber
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® is a concise introduction to the most astonishing economic growth story of the last three decades. In the 1980s, China was an impoverished backwater, struggling to escape the political turmoil and economic mismanagement of the Mao era. Today it is the world's second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world's steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the most influential investors in developing countries from southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America.
-
-
An interesting insight
- By Cole Peters on 11-28-18
-
The Post-American World 2.0
- By: Fareed Zakaria
- Narrated by: Fareed Zakaria
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is the New York Times and international best seller, revised and expanded with a new afterword. This is the essential update of Fareed Zakaria's analysis about America and its shifting position in world affairs. In this new edition, Zakaria makes sense of the rapidly changing global landscape. With his customary lucidity, insight, and imagination, he draws on lessons from the two great power shifts of the past 500 years - the rise of the Western world and the rise of the United States - to tell us what we can expect from the third shift, the rise of the rest.
-
-
S/B req reading for every man, woman and child...
- By Kopernicus on 10-20-11
By: Fareed Zakaria
-
A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things
- A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet
- By: Raj Patel, Jason W. Moore
- Narrated by: Simon Mattacks
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nature, money, work, care, food, energy, and lives: these are the seven things that have made our world and will shape its future. Bringing the latest ecological research together with histories of colonialism, indigenous struggles, slave revolts, and other rebellions and uprisings, Patel and Moore demonstrate that throughout history, crises have always prompted fresh strategies to make the world cheap and safe for capitalism.
-
-
A remarkable exposé & synthesis of the Ponzi scheme that capitalism is and always has been.
- By Scott on 02-10-18
By: Raj Patel, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Escape from Rome
- The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity
- By: Walter Scheidel
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 21 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world?
-
-
Very interesting book, terrible narration
- By Matt Griffin on 12-03-19
By: Walter Scheidel
-
Seceding from Secession
- The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia
- By: Eric J. Wittenberg, Edmund A. Sargus Jr., Penny L. Barrick
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union's 35th state. In Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia, authors Eric J. Wittenberg, Edmund A. Sargus, and Penny L. Barrick chronicle those events in an unprecedented study of the social, legal, military, and political factors that converged to bring about the birth of the West Virginia.
By: Eric J. Wittenberg, and others
-
The Decline and Rise of Democracy
- A Global History from Antiquity to Today
- By: David Stastavage
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer - democratic practices were present in many places at many other times. David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished - and when and why they declined - can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.
-
-
Informative
- By Frank on 12-22-20
By: David Stastavage
-
Pirates
- A New History, from Vikings to Somali Raiders
- By: Peter Lehr
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ranging from the Vikings and Wako pirates in the Middle Ages to modern day Somali pirates, Lehr delves deep into what motivates pirates and how they operate. He also illuminates the state's role in the development of piracy throughout history: from privateers sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth to pirates operating off the coast of Africa taking the law into their own hands. After exploring the structural failures which create fertile ground for pirate activities, Lehr evaluates the success of counter-piracy efforts - and the reasons behind its failures.
By: Peter Lehr
-
Plagues upon the Earth
- Disease and the Course of Human History
- By: Kyle Harper
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues all around us, in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality.
-
-
Waste of time...endless dribble.
- By Kathleen A. Massey on 12-29-21
By: Kyle Harper
-
The Aristocracy of Talent
- How Meritocracy Made the Modern World
- By: Adrian Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their birth. While this initially seemed like a novel concept, by the end of the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology. How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from both right and left?
-
-
Finally, an answer.
- By lll on 11-23-23
-
Escape from Rome
- The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity
- By: Walter Scheidel
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning
- Length: 21 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world?
-
-
Very interesting book, terrible narration
- By Matt Griffin on 12-03-19
By: Walter Scheidel
-
Seceding from Secession
- The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia
- By: Eric J. Wittenberg, Edmund A. Sargus Jr., Penny L. Barrick
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The northwestern third of the Commonwealth of Virginia finally broke away in 1863 to form the Union's 35th state. In Seceding from Secession: The Civil War, Politics, and the Creation of West Virginia, authors Eric J. Wittenberg, Edmund A. Sargus, and Penny L. Barrick chronicle those events in an unprecedented study of the social, legal, military, and political factors that converged to bring about the birth of the West Virginia.
By: Eric J. Wittenberg, and others
-
The Decline and Rise of Democracy
- A Global History from Antiquity to Today
- By: David Stastavage
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historical accounts of democracy's rise tend to focus on ancient Greece and pre-Renaissance Europe. The Decline and Rise of Democracy draws from global evidence to show that the story is much richer - democratic practices were present in many places at many other times. David Stasavage makes the case that understanding how and where these democracies flourished - and when and why they declined - can provide crucial information not just about the history of governance, but about the ways modern democracies work and where they could manifest in the future.
-
-
Informative
- By Frank on 12-22-20
By: David Stastavage
-
Pirates
- A New History, from Vikings to Somali Raiders
- By: Peter Lehr
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ranging from the Vikings and Wako pirates in the Middle Ages to modern day Somali pirates, Lehr delves deep into what motivates pirates and how they operate. He also illuminates the state's role in the development of piracy throughout history: from privateers sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth to pirates operating off the coast of Africa taking the law into their own hands. After exploring the structural failures which create fertile ground for pirate activities, Lehr evaluates the success of counter-piracy efforts - and the reasons behind its failures.
By: Peter Lehr
-
Plagues upon the Earth
- Disease and the Course of Human History
- By: Kyle Harper
- Narrated by: Tim Fannon
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues all around us, in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality.
-
-
Waste of time...endless dribble.
- By Kathleen A. Massey on 12-29-21
By: Kyle Harper
-
The Aristocracy of Talent
- How Meritocracy Made the Modern World
- By: Adrian Wooldridge
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meritocracy: the idea that people should be advanced according to their talents rather than their birth. While this initially seemed like a novel concept, by the end of the twentieth century it had become the world's ruling ideology. How did this happen, and why is meritocracy now under attack from both right and left?
-
-
Finally, an answer.
- By lll on 11-23-23
-
Global Inequality
- A New Approach for the Age of Globalization
- By: Branko Milanovic
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Branko Milanovic presents a bold new account of the dynamics that drive inequality on a global scale. Drawing on vast data sets and cutting-edge research, he explains the benign and malign forces that make inequality rise and fall within and among nations. He also reveals who has been helped the most by globalization, who has been held back, and what policies might tilt the balance toward economic justice.
-
-
You should read, rather than listen to, this book
- By Rachel on 07-17-17
By: Branko Milanovic
-
Money for Nothing
- The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich
- By: Thomas Levenson
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the heart of the Scientific Revolution, when new theories promised to explain the affairs of the universe, Britain was broke, facing a mountain of debt accumulated in war after war it could not afford. But that same Scientific Revolution - the kind of thinking that helped Isaac Newton solve the mysteries of the cosmos - would soon lead clever, if not always scrupulous, men to try to figure a way out of Britain’s financial troubles.
-
-
Financial innovation's first song of the siren.
- By Michael Barnett on 09-06-20
By: Thomas Levenson
-
Auschwitz and the Allies
- A Devastating Account of How the Allies Responded to the News of Hitler's Mass Murder
- By: Martin Gilbert
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin Gilbert presents a comprehensive look into the series of decisions that helped shape this particular course of the war, and the fate of millions of people, through his eminent blend of exhaustive devotion to the facts and accessible, graceful writing. Through firsthand accounts by escaped Auschwitz prisoners, Gilbert reconstructs the span of time between Allied awareness and definitive action in the face of overwhelming evidence of Nazi atrocities.
-
-
Interesting and thorough
- By A.H. on 01-04-24
By: Martin Gilbert
-
If Then
- How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future
- By: Jill Lepore
- Narrated by: Jill Lepore
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Simulmatics Corporation, founded in 1959, mined data, targeted voters, accelerated news, manipulated consumers, destabilized politics, and disordered knowledge - decades before Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Cambridge Analytica. Silicon Valley likes to imagine that it has no past, but the scientists of Simulmatics are the long-dead grandfathers of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Borrowing from psychological warfare, they used computers to predict and direct human behavior, deploying their “People Machine” from New York, Cambridge, and Saigon.
-
-
?
- By Andrew Weymouth on 01-03-21
By: Jill Lepore
-
Unequal Gains
- American Growth and Inequality Since 1700
- By: Peter H. Lindert, Jeffrey G. Williamson
- Narrated by: Brian O'Neill
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Unequal Gains offers a radically new understanding of the economic evolution of the United States, providing a complete picture of the uneven progress of America from colonial times to today. While other economic historians base their accounts on American wealth, Peter Lindert and Jeffrey Williamson focus instead on income - and the result is a bold reassessment of the American economic experience.
By: Peter H. Lindert, and others
-
Fragile by Design
- The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit
- By: Charles W. Calomiris, Stephen H. Haber
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Analyzing the political and banking history of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil through several centuries, Fragile by Design demonstrates that chronic banking crises and scarce credit are not accidents due to unforeseen circumstances. Rather, these fluctuations result from the complex bargains made between politicians, bankers, bank shareholders, depositors, debtors, and taxpayers.
-
-
An all-time favorite in banking, history, politics
- By Philo on 05-20-14
By: Charles W. Calomiris, and others
-
History Will Prove Us Right
- Inside the Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy
- By: Howard P. Willens
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy was murdered in front of hundreds of onlookers. For 50 years, the events of that day have been the subject of heated debate. The commission tasked with investigating the assassination published its findings the following year - Oswald had acted alone - but the report did little to quell conspiracy theorists.
-
-
History has proven you right.
- By Gregory J. Cummings on 01-06-23
-
Blood and Money
- War, Slavery, Finance, and Empire
- By: David McNally
- Narrated by: Tim Getman
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In most accounts of the origins of money, we are offered pleasant tales in which it arises to the mutual benefit of all parties as a result of barter. In this groundbreaking study David McNally reveals the true story of money's origins and development as one of violence and human bondage. Money's emergence and its transformation are shown to be intimately connected to the buying and selling of slaves and the waging of war.
-
-
Blood Money
- By Tyrone on 03-19-22
By: David McNally
-
The Great Hurricane
- 1938
- By: Cherie Burns
- Narrated by: Anna Fields
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the night of September 20, 1938, the news on the radio was full of Hitler's pending invasion of Czechoslovakia. Severe weather wasn't mentioned; only light rain was forecast for the following day. In a matter of hours, however, a hurricane of unprecedented force would tear through one of the wealthiest and most populated stretches of coastline in America, obliterating communities from Long Island to Providence, destroying entire fishing fleets from Montauk to Narragansett Bay.
-
-
Mesmerizing book!
- By Tracey on 04-23-13
By: Cherie Burns
-
Populism
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Cas Mudde, Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Although populism is ultimately part of democracy, populist movements constitute an increasing challenge to democratic politics. Comparing political trends across different countries, this compelling audiobook debates what the long-term consequences of this challenge could be, as it turns the spotlight on the bewildering effect of populism on today's political and social life.
By: Cas Mudde, and others
-
The Trials of Thomas Morton
- An Anglican Lawyer, His Puritan Foes, and the Battle for a New England
- By: Peter C. Mancall
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This compelling counter-narrative to the familiar story of the Puritans combines a rich understanding of the period with a close reading of early texts to bring the contentious Morton to life. This volume sheds new light on the tumultuous formative decades of the American experience.
-
-
strange, compelling story
- By Dudley on 01-27-23
By: Peter C. Mancall
-
Economics in America
- An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality
- By: Angus Deaton
- Narrated by: Angus Deaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When economist Angus Deaton immigrated to the United States from Britain in the early 1980s, he was awed by America’s strengths and shocked by the extraordinary gaps he witnessed between people. Economics in America explains in clear terms how the field of economics addresses the most pressing issues of our times—from poverty, retirement, and the minimum wage to the ravages of the nation’s uniquely disastrous health care system—and narrates Deaton’s own account of his experiences as a naturalized US citizen and academic economist.
-
-
Perspective on interplay of economics and politics
- By JillT on 02-02-24
By: Angus Deaton
What listeners say about The Great Leveler
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Varun
- 02-10-18
Content is not suitable for an Audiobook
The narrator has done a good job, but the content of the book is too technical to be suited to the style of delivery of an audiobook. I highly recommend that you read rather than listen to this book. There are many details and it becomes difficult not to get lost and stay focussed as the content is narrated.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lauren L
- 04-03-18
As depressing as it is convincing
Mr Scheidel makes a controversial case - at least for those of us not well versed in this aspect of economics - and he makes it so convincingly that The Great Leveler is in fact a very dry read. Nonetheless the fundamental revelation (for that is what it is for me) about inequality and the forces conspiring to increase it, is powerful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hudson Davis
- 06-14-18
wow
this book is one I wish wasn't true. very humbling. not only does inequality exist, it's way worse than we thought.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eric Boorman
- 06-11-18
Incredible Research BUT Extremely Dense
The Great Leveler is a look at the history of inequality throughout the world and the factors which may (or may not) reduce inequality. Scheidel considers 4 levelers: war, plague, revolution and state collapse. Scheidel does not cut corners, looking at a wide array of evidence to carefully conclude which factors reduce inequality, in what situations they reduce inequality, the various examples of this throughout history, and an analysis of the counterexamples. I would highly recommend reading this book, especially if one is a social scientist or economist, concerned about global inequality.
Scheidel presents his arguments in a very organized manner and it is easy to follow along. Additionally, Scheidel does not assume much in the way of prior knowledge. Scheidel presents the basic information researchers need to know to understand things like Gini coefficients and other economic measures of inequality. Additionally, Schiedel lays out the specific pieces of information pertinent to each historical case, though a rudimentary understanding of world history would be greatly beneficial.
While I found this book extremely useful, I could not rate the book as a five due to the writing style. Scheidel's is very erudite and the material can get dry at times. This text is not approachable to the average reader. While a person does not have to be a social scientist, economist, anthropologist, etc., to understand Scheidel's work, a person does have to have a fairly high baseline education level to understand what Scheidel is saying.
Overall, this is an incredible book. The research presented here is broad and deep. However, do not expect to get through this book in a day (or even a week).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Erik The Red
- 07-14-18
Both immense in scope and tragic.
This work is a terrific refutation of the egalitarian movements throughout history. The author shows that the only way inequality is truly ever leveled is by horrific events that bring mass casualties, massive property damage and mass famine. Not exactly a good track record for those who are still pushing that tired narrative of “equality of outcomes”.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Soo Rose
- 04-01-18
An increase in why inequality exists.
Liked not loved this book. throughout the beginning and middle of the reading it continued to be very dry. The upside of this is the reasoning for how dry the material was in its concluding final chapters where all is needed in summary and understanding as a whole.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jorge Alegria F
- 09-10-18
very well documented...and a bit scary
the whole idea is very strong. because the huge data is a bit redundant sometimes. but worth hearing it.
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert Blais
- 02-02-18
REPETITIVE AND OVERLY DETAILED.
What would have made The Great Leveler better?
THIS MIGHT BE A GREAT BOOK FOR A RESEARCH ECONOMIST BUT WAS QUITE BORING TO ME. THE SUBJECT TITLE SOUNDED VERY INTERESTING BUT THE TEXT JUST "DRONED ON." I ALSO THOUGHT THAT THE AUTHOR MADE TOO LITTLE OF THE FACT THAT FOR MOST OF THE FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES THE UPPER !% HAVE GAINED BUT SO HAVE THE MIDDLE CLASSES--HIS STATISTICS WERE SKEWED.
What do you think your next listen will be?
I DON'T KNOW
Did Joel Richards do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
YES--CONSIDERING THE TECHNICAL AND VERBOSE DATA HE DID VERY WELL.
What character would you cut from The Great Leveler?
N/A
Any additional comments?
OVERALL I ENJOY MY AUDIBLE BOOKS IMMENSELY !
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- nicholas millisor
- 02-24-20
Interesting but maybe not the best audiobook
I really liked the thesis and methodology of this book. Scheidel makes some truly interesting points and supports that with evidence but in audio formate it was hard to keep track of all the numbers flying your way. Great book but maybe invest in a hard copy
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adam Paczuski
- 08-01-18
Amazing book that shows the inequality of the past
it was an amazing listen on the past present and future of inequality and the destabilization it causes. A bit pessimistic but realistic through and through.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful