Equality: The history of an elusive idea

(Hardback)

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Description

Equality is in crisis. Our world is filled with soaring inequalities, spanning wealth, race, identity, and nationality. Yet how can we strive for equality if we don't understand it As much as we have struggled for equality, we have always been profoundly sceptical about it. How much do we want, and for whom

Darrin M. McMahon's Equality is the definitive intellectual history, tracing equality's global origins and spread from the dawn of humanity through the Enlightenment to today. Equality has been reimagined continually, in the great world religions and the politics of the ancient world, by revolutionaries and socialists, Nazis and fascists, and post-war reformers and activists.

A magisterial exploration of why equality matters and why we continue to reimagine it, Equality offers all the tools to rethink equality anew for our own age.

Reviews

'Fascinating' - New York Times

'This fascinating and refreshing book is more necessary than ever. A must-read' -- Thomas Piketty author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century


'An important examination of the past, present, and future of a key concept of political thinking' Kirkus


'This is an essential book for thinking about the most pressing issues of our time. We instinctively react against inequality yet have confused and conflicting ideas about how to make equality a reality. McMahon explains why equality remains so elusive' -- Lynn Hunt author of Inventing Human Rights


'Darrin McMahon once again delivers a brilliant intellectual history of one of humanity's most important and least understood ideas. Sweeping, incisive, and provocative, Equality is nothing short of a masterpiece' -- Daniel Gilbert author of the New York Times-bestselling Stumbling on Happiness


'A landmark work of intellectual history ... This book is deeply researched, tightly argued and sparklingly written. It ought to be read by anyone interested in equality, and also anyone interested in people, history, God, politics, religion, nationalism, war or love' -- Richard V Reeves Literary Review


'In this ambitious book, McMahon places equality at the center of human history, showing us how elastic and unruly the concept is and illustrating struggles over its meaning continue to be central touchstones for our contemporary moment. This intellectual and political history is a critical resource in our age of inequality' -- Adom Getachew author of Worldmaking after Empire


'McMahon's Equality is a magisterial and path-breaking history of the dialectic of equality and inequality, which has always been and remains today indispensable to understand the history of humanity' -- Siep Stuurman author of The Invention of Humanity


'McMahon's Equality is a remarkable book full of penetrating insights, good humor, and hard truths' -- Teresa M. Bejan, University of Oxford


'McMahon's book is a rare general study of the topic... Sweeping and discerning' Library Journal


'A meticulous and thoughtful account' Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Darrin M. McMahon is the David W. Little Class of 1944 Professor of History at Dartmouth College, and the author of Happiness: A History and Divine Fury: A History of Genius.