Nature, Culture, and Inequality - by Thomas Piketty (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Originally published in French as Nature, culture et inâegalitâes: Une perspective comparative et historique in 2023 by Sociâetâe d'ethnologie, Nanterre, France"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

"The most important economics book of the year―and maybe of the decade." --Paul Krugman, New York Times, on Capital in the Twenty-First Century

A bestselling economist's history of inequality and guide to a more just, sustainable world, distilled into an engaging and accessible pocket-sized text.

In this unique work, Thomas Piketty presents a synthesis of his historical and comparative research on inequality. He challenges the idea that there could be natural inequalities and shows that the march toward equality has always depended on political and social struggles, addressing diverse topics such as:

• education,
• inheritance,
• the climate crisis,
• the taxation of wealth, and
• gender disparities.

Adapted from Piketty's 2022 lecture at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Nature, Culture, and Inequality makes his important argument available to a wider audience for the first time. With a clear, conversational tone, he provides a strong foundation of data and concrete examples of how we can continue to level the playing field.

Review Quotes

"A readable introduction to Piketty's worldview." --Kirkus Reviews

"Through his seminal works, Piketty has become a beacon for those seeking to comprehend and combat economic inequity. He's not just an economist, he's also a visionary whose ideas inspire a new generation to debate and shape a (much) more equitable future." --Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind and Utopia For Realists

"In a hundred engaging and easy-to-read pages, Thomas Piketty paints a vivid portrait of economic inequality's many faces--as it relates to income, wealth, gender, education, taxation, inheritance, debt, and climate change. Throughout, Piketty documents the collective choices that have charted inequality's past path in order to challenge democratic politics to build a more equal future. If you have one hour to devote to thinking about economic inequality today, spend it with this book." --Daniel Markovits, author of The Meritocracy Trap

"Nature, Culture, and Inequality is a clear, incisive examination of one of the world's major economic problems--extreme income and wealth inequality. In this short, readable volume, Thomas Piketty explains how extreme inequality hurts millions of people worldwide and why some nations have far worse inequality than others. Piketty also makes the case that the high levels of inequality in countries like the United States are not part of the natural order and can--and should--be greatly reduced to create fairer economies for all." --Steven Greenhouse, author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor

"This brilliant little book distills years of world-class research on inequality into a punchy argument with wonderful insights on every page. For anyone interested in the problem of inequality and how to solve it, this is the perfect place to start." --Jason Hickel, author of The Divide and Less Is More

Praise for Capital in the Twenty-First Century

"The magnum opus of the French economist...will be the most important economics book of the year--and maybe of the decade." --Paul Krugman, New York Times

"Monumental...one of the most thorough and illuminating studies of capitalist economics since Karl Marx published the original Capital 150 years earlier." --Washington Post

"Piketty has written a book that nobody interested in a defining issue of our era can afford to ignore." --The New Yorker

About the Author

Thomas Piketty is a professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and the Paris School of Economics, and codirector of the World Inequality Lab. He is the author of the landmark New York Times bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014), as well as Capital and Ideology (2020) and A Brief History of Equality (2022).

Willard Wood grew up in France and has translated more than thirty works of fiction and nonfiction from the French. He has won the Lewis Galantière Award for Literary Translation and received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Translation. His recent translations include Camille de Toledo's Theseus, His New Life (Other Press 2023) and Patrick Boucheron's Trace and Aura (Other Press 2022). He lives in Norfolk, Connecticut.