Walter Scheidel Books
Walter Scheidel is an Austrian historian and professor of classics and history at Stanford University. His research focuses on ancient social and economic history, historical demography, and the long-term evolution of inequality.
Known for: The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century, The Great Leveller: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century, Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850
Books by Walter Scheidel
The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
This book explores the history of inequality across human societies, arguing that major reductions in inequality have historically resulted from violent shocks such as wars, revolutions, state collaps...
The Great Leveller: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
In this sweeping historical study, Walter Scheidel argues that throughout human history, major reductions in inequality have only occurred through violent shocks—wars, revolutions, state collapse, and...
Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850
In this book, historian Walter Scheidel explores the question of why Europe, rather than other regions, became the dominant global power in the early modern period. He examines the interplay of geogra...
Key Insights from Walter Scheidel
Early Human Societies
In humanity’s earliest epochs, when small foraging groups wandered across landscapes in search of food, inequality was limited by the sheer simplicity of survival. Mobility and sharing were essential, and accumulated wealth was nearly impossible. Yet with the transition to settled agriculture, a pro...
From The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
Ancient Empires
From Mesopotamia’s temple economies to Rome’s vast latifundia, ancient civilizations institutionalized inequality on an unprecedented scale. As states emerged, rulers and elite administrators monopolized wealth, taxation, and land. The apparatus of empire—bureaucracy, military, trade—magnified econo...
From The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
The Deep History of Inequality
For most of human existence, we lived as hunters and gatherers, small bands moving through landscapes that resisted ownership and hierarchy. Anthropological evidence shows that these societies tended toward relative equality because resources could not easily be accumulated. Prestige existed, but it...
From The Great Leveller: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
The First Great Levelling
Yet even the most rigid systems are mortal. Around 1200 BCE, much of the ancient world teetered and fell. The Late Bronze Age collapse swept through the Eastern Mediterranean, destroying palaces, cities, and trading networks from Greece to Egypt. For generations afterward, literacy vanished, economi...
From The Great Leveller: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century
Geographical Foundations
Europe’s geography was not destiny, but it offered conditions conducive to diversity, experimentation, and sustained development. The continent’s physical fragmentation—mountain ranges, peninsulas, rivers, and irregular coastlines—prevented comprehensive political unification. Rather than a single c...
From Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850
Political Fragmentation and Competition
Europe’s decentralized political order between the 16th and 18th centuries was a defining feature of its dynamism. Unlike China, which experienced long stretches of unification under powerful dynasties, Europe remained divided into dozens of states, each vying for survival and supremacy. This compet...
From Why Europe? The Rise of the West in World History, 1500–1850
About Walter Scheidel
Walter Scheidel is an Austrian historian and professor of classics and history at Stanford University. His research focuses on ancient social and economic history, historical demography, and the long-term evolution of inequality.
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Walter Scheidel is an Austrian historian and professor of classics and history at Stanford University. His research focuses on ancient social and economic history, historical demography, and the long-term evolution of inequality.
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