Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined [Hardcover]
- Author by Pinker, Steven
Editorial Reviews
From Publisher
The author of "The New York Times" bestseller "The Stuff of Thought" offers a controversial 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 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, 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 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.
Reviews
- From Publishers Weekly
- In the perennial debate over nature versus nurture, Steven Pinker has established himself as the pre-eminent contemporary spokesman for biology as destiny. Every few years, Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, publishes a doorstop-sized, improbably readable tome that swiftly generates controversy. Pinkers thesis is that the human condition is, in effect, coded into the human genome. We have about two dozen basic cognitive and emotional systems operating between our ears. They are the product of evolution. Our capabilities as a species (for example, language) as well as our all too obvious limitations (say, the penchant for aggression) have eons of momentum behind them. Thus human nature, while somewhat flexible, is, for the most part, fixed. So it proves mildly surprising to consider the subtitle of Pinkers new book. The very claim that violence has declined seems counterintuitive. After all, the 20th century obliged us to invent new terms such as genocide and concentration campwhile this one has been plenty bloody so far. But rather than claiming that some homicidal imperative is hard-wired into us as organisms, Pinker maintains that weve grown less bloodthirsty over the course of recorded history. Through historical shortsightedness, were prone to underestimate just how pervasive routine violence was in previous eras. But Pinkers graphsand the evidence he harvests from anthropologists, historians, criminologists, and experts of many other kindssuggest that the percentage of the population killed in warfare or everyday mayhem has declined, from century to century. The number of executions has gone down, and routine public displays of viciousness (such as torture and lynching) have grown less socially acceptable. By Pinkers account, our evolutionary inheritance includes a tendency for dominanceas well as a knack for rationalizing violent actions as provoked, justified, involuntary, or inconsequential. But we also have capacities for self-control and empathy that become reinforced when societies undergo what the great sociologist Norbert Elias called the civilizing process of establishing a central, rational authority. Alas, that process has failed to pacify the lower strata of the socioeconomic scale, and the inaccessible or inhospitable territories of the globe. (The latter phrase evidently refers to the Third World, rather than Antarctica.) Better Angels is a fascinating and deeply irritating bookfull of thought-provoking data, but also prone to bursts of dismissive sneering toward researchers whose work runs counter to Pinkers current of thinking. He effectively reinvents Victorian notions of the dangerous classes and lesser breeds without the law. But his vision of civilized societies triumphing over humanitys murderous impulses would be more credible if highly developed countries had not developed so many weapons capable of destroying all life on Earth several times over. Scott McLemee writes the weekly column Intellectual Affairs for Inside Higher Ed. Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.
- From Booklist
- Readers will understandably question psychology professor Pinker's basic premises that violence has declined significantly and that we are living in the most peaceable era of human existence. But he makes the case with data and trend lines indicating that despite the horrors of our modern ageterrorism, genocide, everyday mayhemwe are actually killing and maiming less frequently than in earlier history. Pinker takes a very long view, drawing on history and psychology to examine a very hopeful trend. He begins by looking at six historical trends that have led to advancements from hunting to agriculture to commerce and governance, resulting in greater prosperity and ease. In the arena of psychology, he explores five inner demons and how they have been fueled and calmed by historical factors. Finally, he examines four better angelsforces, including empathy, self-control, morality, and reason, that have historically kept us from eliminating our species. This long, well-researched, comprehensive tour-de-force provides a helpful look at the human condition.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
Quote Reviews
- "For anyone interested in human nature, the material is engrossing, and when the going gets heavy, Pinker knows how to lighten it with ironic comments and a touch of humor ... a supremely important book. To have command of so much research, spread across so many different fields, is a masterly achievement."
-"The New York Times Book Review"
."..an extraordinary range of research ... a masterly effort."
-"The Wall Street Journal"
" ..."Better Angels" is a monumental achievement. His book should make it much harder for pessimists to cling to their gloomy vision of the future. Whether war is an ancient adaptation or a pernicious cultural infection, we are learning how to overcome it."
-Slate.com
