The Better Angels of Our Nature

Chances are you’ve heard this book mentioned somewhere in the last few years. And chances are you’ve heard it mentioned because of how wrong or misguided the book must be.

That’s because Pinker’s argument in this book is so contradictory to everything we feel to be true, it’s extremely hard to accept (hence, him needing 832 pages to convince you.)

What’s his argument? It’s this: today, we live in the most peaceful, tolerant, and non-violent period in human history.

I’ll let that sink in a moment…

In fact, Pinker says, relative to the rest of human history, the past 70 years have been so peaceful and non-violent that historians, sociologists, and political scientists have no idea how to explain it.

Now, if you’re like most people, you immediately resist this argument. You think that there’s no way that could be true. And that’s why Pinker begins the book by deftly reminding us that the vast majority of human history included mass slavery, habitual torture, public executions, cruelty towards both animals and children, human sacrifices and honor killings, and so on. These things were the rules of the human experience, not the exceptions. He points out that in medieval Europe, there was an art form to torture and people took pleasure in public mutilations. Women and children were often sold off as slaves. Wars that killed hundreds of thousands of people were started for no other reason than some lord or king got his ego bruised. Hell, apparently people used to set cats on fire as a form of entertainment.

And once your stomach is queasy, Pinker then slams you with 600 pages of data. Page after page after page of charts, graphs, studies, historical quotes. The evidence he presents is massive (again, it’s 832 fricking pages). There are entire sections of the book where every single sentence is footnoted with references to studies. Pinker knew people were going to call bullshit on him, so he did his due diligence here.2

But don’t get bummed out by all the data. He spends the last few chapters taking a stab at why violence has declined and this is where the book gets really fascinating. I won’t spoil his answers, but here are a few hints: empathy is overrated, reason and literacy are way underrated, governments are better than people think, and religion is, well… hate to piss in the punch bowl, but religion is responsible for a lot of violence.

Why It’s Hard to Read: The hardest part of this book is just how exhaustive the data is. He doesn’t just show the decline in wars and violence within society; he spends many pages or even entire chapters showing the decline of things like torture, animal abuse, domestic abuse, hate crimes, even spanking children. There are hundreds of charts and graphs and it can all get a bit tiresome. Take it in measured doses.

Also, his description of some of the violence that was prevalent throughout history can get sickening at times. It’s eye-opening how cruel our species can be (and usually has been).

Why You Should Read It Anyway: It’s worth it for a few reasons. First, if/when you’re convinced of Pinker’s central argument, your whole perspective on the world and history changes. Yes, we obviously have huge problems today that need addressing, but comparatively, these are way, way, way better problems than people faced even a few generations ago. This is actually a significant shift in most people’s worldview that has real, tangible implications.

But secondly, Pinker’s arguments for why violence happens and why it has declined will likely change a number of your assumptions about life. “All we need is love,” Pinker argues, is actually likely far more dangerous than it is helpful. On the contrary, he argues for a classic, Enlightenment-era ethos: reason, tolerance, individual liberty, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

Other Things You Could Probably Do in the Time It Takes You to Finish This Book:

Throw a woman in a well to see if she’s a witch. If she floats, then fish her out and burn her alive for that week’s Friday night entertainment.

Be grateful approximately 12,031 times that you weren’t born in previous generations.

Commit genocide or some other atrocity. Blame it on people with a different skin color than you.