REVIEWS case for the idea that capitalism has brought not just wealth but also unprecedented equality to the societies where it has been allowed to flourish. As McCloskey implies, the present-day attack on income inequality is greatly short-sighted because it focuses on disparities of income that have always existed while ignoring what is unique in human history: an unparalleled level of affluence rapidly spreading to nearly all mankind. The question is not how much the Buffetts of the world are worth but whether a large majority of the world's people now enjoy a secure, healthy, comfortable existence of a sort unknown in the past. With its unwavering defense of capitalism, Bourgeois Equality goes a long way toward refuting the arguments of skeptics on this point. Deirdre McCloskey's reassessment of the nature of bourgeois culture is a major accomplishment that will greatly influence thinking on both the history of the bourgeois experiment and its future role in human civilization. In Bourgeois Equality McCloskey concludes a profoundly thoughtful discussion of the dissemination and achievements of bourgeois culture, and she makes a persuasive case for the origins of this culture within the common human practice of trade-tested betterment. Her bourgeois trilogy is an achievement of the first order that should be read by all who seek a better understanding of the nature of the civilization in which we live. moder nagejour nal .com 145http://www.modernagejournal.com