As Gods Among Men

A History of the Rich in the West

Guido Alfani

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Hardback

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English

Princeton University Pres
01 March 2024

History; Social & cultural history; Social classes; Political economy; Economic history

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.

By: Guido Alfani
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691215730
ISBN 10: 0691215731
Pages: 440
Publication Date: 01 March 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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.

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

"""A New Statesman Best Book of the Academic Presses"" ""An Australian Most Anticipated Book"" ""In his new book, As Gods Among Men, Bocconi University economic historian Guido 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 kept – both largely unchanged – but 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 * ""In his fascinating history, As Gods Among Men, Guido Alfani shows how the super-rich have always bailed the rest of us out- until now."" * The Telegraph * ""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 ""[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 élites become ingrown, impenetrable, and 'insensitive to the plight of the masses,' societies tend to become unstable.""---Evan Osnos, New Yorker ""The rich, like the poor, are always with us. In fact, over many centuries - as this wide-ranging and ambitious book tells us - the richest in society have captured more and more of the overall wealth of Western societies.""---Roderick Floud, History Today"