"Economic inequality is one of the most daunting challenges of our time with public debate
often turning to questions of whether it is an inevitable outcome of economic systems and what
if anything can be done about it. But why exactly should inequality worry us? The Greatest
of All Plagues demonstrates that this underlying question has been a central preoccupation of
some of the most eminent political thinkers of the Western intellectual tradition. David Lay
Williams shares bold new perspectives on the writings and ideas of Plato Jesus Thomas Hobbes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Adam Smith John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. He shows how they describe
economic inequality as a source of political instability and a corrupter of character and soul
and how they view unchecked inequality as a threat to their most cherished values such as
justice faith civic harmony peace democracy and freedom. Williams draws invaluable
insights into the societal problems generated by what Plato called "the greatest of all plagues
" and examines the solutions employed through the centuries. An eye-opening work of
intellectual history The Greatest of All Plagues recovers a forgotten past for some of the
most timeless books in the Western canon revealing how economic inequality has been a
paramount problem throughout the history of political thought"--
