The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

We’ve all read about a bloody war or shocking crime and asked, “What is the world coming to?” but we seldom ask, “How bad was the world in the past?” In his new book, bestselling cognitive scientist Steven Pinker shows that the world of the past was much worse. How could this have happened, if human nature has not changed? The key to explaining the decline of violence, Pinker argues, is to understand the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away.