This is Bregman’s follow-up book to Utopia for Realists. The premise of Humankind is that rather than what we’ve been taught, that human beings are inherently selfish, actually human beings are naturally decent and kind – and in order to be able to survive we’ve had to be. The outcome of this isn’t simple, however, and the book is impressive in its nuance and complexity. Bregman forensically unpicks some of the big narratives that we hold on to that tell us the contrary – from the fiction that is Lord of the Flies, to the real fate of Easter Island, to the experiments of Stanley Milgram and the Shock Machine. What he discovers again and again is how it is the way that the narratives have been constructed (and the motives of those constructing them) which have controlled their meaning and our beliefs about ourselves – beliefs that actually often work against our own lived experience. There’s surprises too – the role of empathy, for example, in blinding us to suffering for example. I’m not all the way through yet, but it’s a really inspiring, galvanising read so far….. I’d love to know what other people think?

More about Bregman here: https://www.rutgerbregman.com

And there’s his TED talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/rutger_bregman_poverty_isn_t_a_lack_of_character_it_s_a_lack_of_cash