An optimistic historian sifts through the past in his mission to prove that mankind might not be so bad . . . A superb read - brisk, accessible and full of great stories ? Sunday TimesThis is the book we need right now . . . Entertaining, uplifting . . . If Bregman is right, this book might just make the world a kinder place ? TelegraphHere, we visit the blitz, Lord of the Flies - both the novel and a very different real-life version - a Siberian fox farm, an infamous New York murder and a host of discredited psychological studies . . . There's a great deal of reassuring human decency to be taken from this bold and thought-provoking book . . . It makes a welcome change to read such a sustained and enjoyable tribute to our better natures ? ObserverFilled with compelling tales of human goodness . . . Bregman's book is a thrilling read and it represents a necessary correction ? The TimesHumankind displays [Bregman's] gift for synthesising libraries full of academic research into spellbinding reads. I whizzed through Humankind's 480 pages, engrossed ? Financial TimesThe notion that we already have the capacity to radically improve the world is both an exhilarating and a daunting one ? New StatesmanBregman argues convincingly that what we teach and report about ourselves, we become . . . Bold, entertaining and uplifting ? SpectatorBregman's book is something of a beacon at the moment, when many are looking for values to profess in our traumatised and altered society . . . People have started to talk about this book: perhaps the moment of this entirely positive, heartening message is about to come -- Alexander McCall Smith ? ScotsmanLively and illuminating . . . Even a few months ago, [the idea that most people behave well in most circumstances] might have seemed, as Bregman claims, "a radical idea". The coronavirus crisis has made it blindingly obvious ? Irish TimesThis book must be read by as many people as possible - only when people change their view of human nature will they begin to believe in the possibility of building a better world -- Grace Blakeley Biografía del autor

Rutger Bregman, a historian and writer at the Correspondent, is one of Europe's most prominent young thinkers. His last book, Utopia for Realists, was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller and has been translated into thirty-two languages. He lives in Holland.@rcbregman | rutgerbregman.com