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The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined Paperback – September 25, 2012

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Steven Pinker (Author)
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Steven Pinker (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 473 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 832 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (September 25, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143122010
  • ISBN-13: 978-0143122012
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (473 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

587 of 648 people found the following review helpful
A tour de force, covering a huge topic quite well
By Graham H. Seibert TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 5, 2011
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This is a huge book, but as Pinker says, it is a huge subject. He organizes himself by lists. First, there are six significant trends which have led to a decrease in violence.
1. Our evolution from hunter gatherers into settled civilizations, which he calls the Pacification Process.
2. The consolidation of small kingdoms and duchies into large kingdoms with centralized authority and commerce, which he calls the Civilizing Process.
3. The emergence of Enlightenment philosophy, and it's respect for the individual through what he calls the Humanitarian Revolution.
4. Since World War II, violence has been suppressed, first by the overwhelming force of the two parties in the Cold War, and more recently by the American hegemony. Pinker calls this the Long Peace.
5. The general trend, even apart from the Cold War, of wars to be more infrequent, and less violent, however autocratic and anti-democratic the governments may be. Call this the New Peace.
6. Lastly, the growth of peace and domestic societies, and with it the diminishing level of violence through small things like schoolyard fights, bullying, and picking on gays and minorities. He titles this the Rights Revolution.

Pinker then goes on to examine the traditional explanations of violence, the traditional explanations of human nature which account for violence. There is practical violence, which you might call necessary violence. Then there are dominance, revenge, sadism, and ideologically driven violence. Opposing these are what he calls the better angels of human nature, empathy, self-control, our moral sense, and reason. Many of these characteristics are shared with our primate brethren, the chimpanzees on down, but some of them are uniquely human.Read more ›
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193 of 218 people found the following review helpful
Uneven; 3.5 Stars
By R. Albin TOP 1000 REVIEWER on March 10, 2012
Format: Hardcover
This very ambitious and sprawling book is a serious effort to argue for and explain the progressive decline in interpersonal violence in human societies. The book is divided into 2 parts. The first part is an effort to describe a broad sweep of human history from prehistoric societies to the present, arguing for a progressive though intermittant decline in violence in human societies. The second part is an effort to understand the underpinings of the decline in violence in terms of human psychological processes.

Pinker's sequence of the decline in violence is based on synthesis of a large volume of literature generated by archaeologists, ethnologists, historians, sociologists, political scientists, and psychologists. Pre-state societies, while low in absolute population and absolute number of violent acts, had very high per capita levels of violence. The emergence of states resulted in some decline in violence and the gradual strengthening of the state resulted in a progressive decline in interpersonal violence, even as states became more capable of waging war. This is best documented in Europe from the Middle Ages to the present. Pinker highlights a number of important parallel processes. The "Civilizing Process" described by the great historical sociologist Norbert Elias of the increasing importance of self-control, manners, and social amity from the Renaissance onwards is prominently featured as a key feature in the decline of violence. Similarly, Pinker emphasizes the humanitarianism of the Enlightenment and subsequent reform movements. In the 20th century, the "Rights Revolution" that has brought widespread acceptance of religious and ethnic minorities, women, and homosexuals, is also discussed as improving our societies.Read more ›
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166 of 195 people found the following review helpful
An analytical, methodical juggernaut of guarded optimism
By David Everling on October 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover
In his lauded but controversial best-seller "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature", Steven Pinker set out to quash a romanticized nostalgia for the lifestyle of people in pre-state societies: the myth of the "noble savage". Now, in his new book "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined", Steven Pinker extends this rectification of prevailing but misguided opinion to grand scale, presenting a strong case for our ennobled present; we are living in the most peaceful era humanity has ever known.

Pinker blows the reader away (forgive the violent metaphor) with sheer weight of analytical shot. At 700 pages of text interspersed with graphs and heaps of reference data, "Better Angels" is thorough-going and methodical because it has to be; contradicting common folk theories (like the noble savage), overriding an often overwhelming sense of unceasing or imminent violence from media coverage (see compassion fatigue), and compensating for a general lack of statistical thinking and probabilistic understanding in the lay public is no easy task. People are right to be skeptical of controversial theories, and knowing this Pinker has patiently lain it all out for us to see for ourselves that violence truly has declined with clear and unambiguously downward direction.

"Better Angels" is structured around an inventory of six Trends, five Inner Demons with four Better Angels, and five Historical Forces (Pinker can't help but enumerate).Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Asking - and attempting to answer - really important questions...

I listened to this book on tape and for the first couple of chapters I was a bit on the fence. If I had written a review for this book after listening to the first third of the... Read more

Published 24 days ago by Brian C.
Although at times the book reads like a survey of social pschylogy...

Although at times the book reads like a survey of social pschylogy studies I've heard about over the years, this book is an insightful and thought provoking dive into the forces... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Szymon Rozga
Wonderful book as well

Book arrived on time and exactly as it was supposed to. Wonderful book as well.

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer
First rate writing and content.

This is the book I would want if I had to limit my collection. I have read and reread countless times. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Linda Chene
I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in humanity in general...

One of the most important books I have read in a long time. I strongly recommend this to anyone interested in humanity in general and world affairs, and especially to those who... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Jesse Reynolds
( Mind-blowingly ) good .

Simply a complete explanation of the past and present atrocities and how they were able to stay with us for such a long time during the constant improvement of the civilized parts... Read more

Published 2 months ago by André Joseph Pierre's kindle
Truely outstanding

One of the best researched, expertly written and most scholarly books I have ever read. I liked his Blank Slate as well.

Published 2 months ago by Anthony R Caggiula
Amazing but depressing

Amazing book, but depressing as hell to read. After reading such a detailed history of the human condition and propensity for violence, it seems the planet would be far better off... Read more

Published 3 months ago by SavvyShopper
A great book to help you keep your sanity in today's ...

While some of the chapters can seem wordy and the author rambling, the overall message and presentation is clear and enjoyable to read. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Gabriel
Five Stars

One would do well reading anything Steven Pinker has written.

Published 3 months ago by a reviewer

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