"wars, pandemics, civil unrest; only violent shocks like these have substantially reduced inequality over the millennia." No. The history of Anglo culture has

"wars, pandemics, civil unrest; only violent shocks like these have substantially reduced inequality over the millennia." No. The history of Anglo culture has been as violent as any other - but not in revolutionary terms. Same thing for Scandinavian cultures. UK/Australia/Canada/NZ have relatively reasonable rates of inequality and there has been no revolution. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland - have likely the highest degree of 'equality' and yet - there has been no revolution. Their Monarchies and State Churches remain intact to this day. The American revolution - though important in terms of world history - was a pretty minor affair - the colonies were small and sparse at the time. It's also very difficult to consider 'revolution' before recorded history as there were no 'social movements' as we understand them, granted, studying revolution before the common are would be worth an academic exercise.