Humankind a hopeful history

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Guardian; Daily Telegraph; New Statesman and Daily Express Book of the Year

'Hugely; highly and happily recommended' Stephen Fry
'You should read Humankind. You'll learn a lot (I did) and you'll have good reason to feel better about the human race' Tim Harford
'Made me see humanity from a fresh perspective' Yuval Noah Harari

It's a belief that unites the left and right; psychologists and philosophers; writers and historians. It drives the headlines that surround us and the laws that touch our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes; Freud to Dawkins; the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings; we're taught; are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest.

Humankind makes a new argument that it is realistic; as well as revolutionary; to assume that people are good. By thinking the worst of others; we bring out the worst in our politics and economics too.

In this major book; internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman takes some of the world's most famous studies and events and reframes them; providing a new perspective on the last 200;000 years of human history. From the real-life Lord of the Flies to the Blitz; a Siberian fox farm to an infamous New York murder; Stanley Milgram's Yale shock machine to the Stanford prison experiment; Bregman shows how believing in human kindness and altruism can be a new way to think - and act as the foundation for achieving true change in our society.

It is time for a new view of human nature.