As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West

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How the rich and the super-rich throughout Western history accumulated their wealth, behaved (or misbehaved) and helped (or didn't help) their communities in times of crisis.

The rich have always fascinated, sometimes in problematic ways. Medieval thinkers feared that the super-rich would act 'as gods among men'; much more recently Thomas Piketty made wealth central to discussions of inequality. In this book, Guido Alfani offers a history of the rich and super-rich in the West, examining who they were, how they accumulated their wealth and what role they played in society. Covering the last thousand years, with frequent incursions into antiquity, and integrating recent research on economic inequality, Alfani finds - despite the different paths to wealth in different eras - fundamental continuities in the behaviour of the rich and public attitudes towards wealth across Western history. His account offers a novel perspective on current debates about wealth and income disparity.

Alfani argues that the position of the rich and super-rich in Western society has always been intrinsically fragile; their very presence has inspired social unease. In the Middle Ages, an excessive accumulation of wealth was considered sinful; the rich were expected not to appear to be wealthy. Eventually, the rich were deemed useful when they used their wealth to help their communities in times of crisis. Yet in the twenty-first century, Alfani points out, the rich and the super-rich - their wealth largely preserved through the Great Recession and COVID-19 - have been exceptionally reluctant to contribute to the common good in times of crisis, rejecting even such stopgap measures as temporary tax increases. History suggests that this is a troubling development - for the rich, and for everyone else.

Reviews

"A New Statesman Best Book of the Academic Presses"
"An Australian Most Anticipated Book"
"[A] fascinating history . . . Alfani shows how the super-rich have always bailed the rest of us outuntil now." * The Telegraph *
"The question that animates [Alfanis] book also haunts our politics: What, exactly, do we want the rich to do, and how do we want them to be" * The New Yorker *
"Alfanis magisterial As Gods Among Men offers a sweeping and welcome historical perspective on who the super-rich really are and how they got that way, blending data, biographical sketches and sociological observations reaching back to the European Middle Ages."---Martin Sandbu, Financial Times
"[An] exhaustive history of the super-rich through the ages."---Ferdinand Mount, Times Literary Supplement
"Alfani notes a pattern that unfolds 'repeatedly and systematically across history': when economic lites become ingrown, impenetrable, and 'insensitive to the plight of the masses,' societies tend to become unstable."---Evan Osnos, The New Yorker
"Alfani outlines how in the past, rich individuals contributed more to the common good in times of war, famine, plague and financial disaster. Today, that sense of shared responsibility is gone."---Rana Foroohar, Financial Times
"In this study of 1,000 years of economic inequality, the historian Guido Alfani looks not just at the means by which wealth was accumulated and keptboth largely unchangedbut also at the attitudes of less fortunate members of society towards the rich. Croesus-like riches have been seen as a sin, an obligation and a fact of life." * New Statesman *
"If ever there was a moment to take stock of the relationship between the haves and have-nots, it is surely now, during the gilded age 2.0."---Geordie Williamson, The Australian
"The rich, like the poor, are always with us. In fact, over many centuriesas this wide-ranging and ambitious book tells usthe richest in society have captured more and more of the overall wealth of Western societies."---Roderick Floud, History Today
"Alfanis writing shows the detail and meticulousness one would expect from a historian. He painstakingly presents facts and arguments, setting out who the rich are, how they have attained wealth, and how society has regarded them through the ages."---Carl Rhodes, The Conversation
"Provides a rich and vivid account of the history of the affluent and their interplay with society across centuries."---Noah Sutter, LSE Review of Books
"A terrific history about wealth and the Western worlds economic practices." * Library Journal *
"[As Gods Among Men] explores phases and strands of Western history that have not been widely or deeply researched, with a view toward finding potential answers to todays wealth-equity conundrums."---Tyna Thall Orren, Los Angeles Lawyer

Author Bio

Guido Alfani is professor of economic history at Bocconi University, Milan. He is the author of Calamities and the Economy in Renaissance Italy: The Grand Tour of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the coauthor of The Lion's Share: Inequality and the Rise of the Fiscal State in Preindustrial Europe.