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 The New York Time Bestselling author Steven
Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is
true: violence has been diminishing for millennia 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, pogroms, gruesome
punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life.
But today, Steven 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 Steven's
exploration of the essence 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.
