The Better Angels of Our Nature
Why Violence Has Declined
Readers rate it 3.9 (88 on Hardcover)
1052 pages · Released Oct 4, 2011 · Penguin
Content report card
The Better Angels of Our Nature parent’s guide: what’s inside
Sexual content
LGBTQ+ themes
Substance use
What it offers
Positive role models
A note for parents
This is a dense, academic work by cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker arguing that human violence has declined over millennia. While the book's thesis is fundamentally optimistic, it necessarily discusses historical atrocities, warfare, and brutal practices in detail to support its argument. The writing is sophisticated and data-driven, requiring strong reading comprehension and historical knowledge. This is a college-level or advanced high school text, not a book for younger readers despite its ultimately hopeful message.
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From the publisher
“If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this—the most inspiring book I've ever read." —Bill Gates (May, 2017) Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year The author of Rationality and Enlightenment Now offers a provocative and surprising history of violence. Faced wit... “If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this—the most inspiring book I've ever read." —Bill Gates (May, 2017) Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year The author of Rationality and Enlightenment Now offers a provocative and surprising history of violence. Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millenia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, programs, gruesom punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life. But today, Pinker shows (with the help of more than a hundred graphs and maps) all these forms of violence have dwindled and are widely condemned. How has this happened? This groundbreaking book continues Pinker's exploration of the esesnce of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly nonviolent world. The key, he explains, is to understand our intrinsic motives--the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away--and how changing circumstances have allowed our better angels to prevail. Exploding fatalist myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious and provocative book is sure to be hotly debated in living rooms and the Pentagon alike, and will challenge and change the way we think about our society.
Shelved under
- Psychology
- War
- History
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ISBN 9781101544648 · Penguin