Equality: The history of an elusive idea

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

'This fascinating and refreshing book is more necessary than ever. A must-read' Thomas Piketty

'Fascinating' - New York Times

WINNER OF THE 2024 JACQUES BARZUN PRIZE IN CULTURAL HISTORY

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

'This fascinating and refreshing book is more necessary than ever. A must-read' -- Thomas Piketty * author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century *
'Fascinating' * New York Times *
'Compellingly readable' * Times Literary Supplement *
'With erudition and style, reveals the contradictions and hypocrisy, the hopes and dreams, that lie behind an idea of great importance' -- James Hanrahan * The Irish Times *
'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 *

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.