Culture | Apocalypse then

The lessons of violence and inequality through the ages

Only catastrophe truly reduces inequality, according to a historical survey

The Great Leveller: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century By Walter Scheidel. Princeton University Press; 504 pages; $35 and £27.95.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Apocalypse then”

The next French revolution

From the March 4th 2017 edition

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