Capital & Ideology: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

Author and illustrator Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam adapt renowned economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology in an accessible and richly illustrated graphic novel format

More than just a faithful graphic novel adaptation of Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology, Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam make the original work’s ideas more accessible through the addition of a family saga. Jules, the main character, is born at the end of the 19th century. He is a person of private means, a privileged figure representative of a profoundly unequal society obsessed with property. He, his family circle, and his descendants will experience the evolution of wealth and society. Eight generations of his family serve as a connecting thread running through the book, all the way up to Léa, a young woman today, who discovers the family secret at the root of their inheritance.

Praised by Piketty himself as a “magnificent adaptation” of his original book, this accessible graphic novel adaptation is perfect for anyone looking to understand the wealth gap and why society is the way it is today. Its friendly and approachable illustrations by cartoonist and children’s book author Benjamin Adam are easy to understand without diluting the subject matter. The material is adapted expertly by Claire Alet, a former journalist at Alternatives Economiques.

Author Biography

Thomas Piketty is an economist and bestselling author whose accessible books about the wealth gap and income inequality have influenced popular conversations about our economy for at least a decade. He has received awards and honors from the University of Johannesburg, the Universidad de Chile, the Yrjö Jahnsson Award, and the Prix du Meilleur Jeune Économiste de France. His first book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, was a New York Times bestseller and received the British Academy Medal. Capital and Ideology is the sequel to that book. Claire Alet graduated from Sciences-Po and worked as a journalist at Alternatives Economiques for several years. She is also author of documentary films for Arte and directs a literature of reality series at Bayard. Benjamin Adam is a cartoonist and illustrator of children’s books living in France. Joker (La Pastèque, 2015) and Soon (Dargaud, 2019) are among his most recently published books. Soon was selected as one of several graphic novels translated into English by Europe Comics, an initiative by the European Commission meant to spread the heritage and art of European graphic novels worldwide.