Lindert, Peter H. & Jeffrey G. Williamson. Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality Since 1700. Princeton Univ. (Economic History of the Western World). May 2016. 424p. illus. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780691170497. $35; ebk. ISBN 9781400880348. ECON

Distinguished economic historians Lindert (economics, Univ. of California, Davis; Growing Public) and Williamson (emeritus, economics, Harvard Univ.; Trade and Poverty) denote that the United States has almost always had the world’s highest incomes, and that the nation could become the first to gain in economic growth and economic inequality simultaneously. Their brilliant analysis stresses that from 1774 to 1860, and from the 1970s up to the present, income imbalance in America has increased more than in any other country. Factors accounting for the rise in the unevenness since the 1970s include an increase in inequality among those within lower income ranks (incomes have expanded, but not enough to stem off inequality) and the number of years of education a person has attained—along with perhaps the quality of them—has risen more slowly than in other advanced regions. It is shown that the earning gap has affected all social groups in America from the poorest to the richest. Patrons might also consult Robert J. Gordon’s The Rise and Fall of American Growth and Thomas Piketty’s Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century. VERDICT A masterpiece in quantitative and qualitative economic research destined to become a classic in its field, this work will interest scholars and to a lesser extent general readers for its investigation of income inequality and economic change since the colonial era in the United States, Great Britain, and elsewhere. An accomplished study that belongs in all economic and social history collections.—Claude Ury, San Francisco

Piketty, Thomas. Why Save the Bankers? And Other Essays on Our Economic and Political Crisis. Houghton Harcourt. Apr. 2016. 224p. tr. from French by Seth Ackerman. notes. index. ISBN 9780544663329. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780544663299. ECON

Superstar economist ­Piketty (economics, Paris Sch. of Economics) is author of the best-selling global phenomenon Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century, which emphasizes his work on wealth and income inequality. The essays in this impressive collection start in September 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers and provide an examination of the Barack Obama presidency and the EU’s debt crisis. Piketty brings together selections from eight years of columns in the French publication Libération. These annotated pieces consider tech giant Steve Jobs’s career and what it teaches us about economics and obligations which must be or must not be paid. Other writings probe the mysteries of the Carbon Tax; the Central Bank at work; French President Francois ­Hollande as a new Franklin D. Roosevelt for Europe; what it means to be free; and the how and what of federalism. An essay from Le Monde (the only essay not from Libération) looks at the crisis in Europe on the night of November 13, 2015, when Islamic State–trained militants launched attacks against civilians in Paris. These excellent essays presuppose little knowledge of economics and provide an overview in nontechnical language of events in the news in Europe, which have relevance to the United States. VERDICT This book by one of the most important economic thinkers of our generation belongs in all economic and social history collections and should appeal to lay readers and subject specialists alike. [See Prepub Alert, 10/26/15.]—Claude Ury, San Francisco