In Humanity, English ethicist Jonathan Glover begins with the now commonplace observation that the last 100 years were perhaps the most brutal in all history. But the problem wasn't that human nature suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse: "It is a myth that barbarism is unique to the twentieth century: the whole of human history includes wars, massacres, and every kind of torture and cruelty," he writes. Technology has made a huge difference, but psychology has remained the same--and this is what Glover seeks to examine, through discussions of Nietzsche, the My Lai atrocity in Vietnam, Hiroshima, tribal genocide in Rwanda, Stalinism, Nazism, and so on.

There is much history here, but Humanity is fundamentally a book of philosophy. In his first chapter, for instance, Glover announces his goal "to replace the thin, mechanical psychology of the Enlightenment with something more complex, something closer to reality." But he also seeks "to defend the Enlightenment hope of a world that is more peaceful and more humane, the hope that by understanding more about ourselves we can do something to create a world with less misery." The result is an odd combination of darkness and light--darkness because the subject matter of the 20th century's moral failings is so bleak, light because of Glover's earnest optimism, which insists that "keeping the past alive may help to prevent atrocities." He cites Stalin's bracing comment, made while signing death warrants: "Who's going to remember all this riff-raff in ten or twenty years' time? No one." At one level, Humanity is a book of remembrance. But it's more than that: it's also an attempt to understand what it is in the human mind that makes moral disaster always loom--and a prayer that this aspect of our psychology might be better controlled. --John J. Miller


Steven Pinker, New York Times Book Review
"This is an extraordinary book: brilliant, haunting and uniquely important."


George Scialabba, Boston Globe
"Humanity is a . . . contribution to the immense labor of understanding some of the worst experiences humankind has ever had."


From Booklist
An ethics academic in Britain, Glover discourses on the dismantlement of absolute morality concepts synonymous with Friedrich Nietzsche, and explicitly put into effect by the twentieth century's terrible tyrants. To describe the release Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot granted themselves from ordinary morality's prohibitions against killing, Glover quotes their ideological justifications of creating a perfect human society. Having opened this book with Nietzsche's pronouncements that man creates his morals, Glover's linking of mass murder with that philosopher is direct, and, if not an original way of comprehending the sufferings inflicted by dictators, it is worthwhile revisiting for those vexed by the apparent meaninglessness of enormous crimes. Indeed, Glover is a direct writer, not given to the opacity that clouds many a discussion of ethics. For instance, he narrates specific atrocities, and describes the psychological "traps" the triggermen find themselves in as their rationales for their actions. The "trap" metaphor extends in Glover's view to events such as World War I, and whatever dispute diplomatic historians will make with that, ethicists will find profit in Glover's not totally bleak survey. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Steven Pinker, New York Times Book Review
"This is an extraordinary book: brilliant, haunting and uniquely important."


George Scialabba, Boston Globe
"Humanity is a . . . contribution to the immense labor of understanding some of the worst experiences humankind has ever had."


Shashi Tharoor, Los Angeles Times
"There is much that is excellent in Humanity, especially Glover's lucid summary of the monstrosities of Stalinism--indispensable."


Kirkus Reviews
"An impressive and accessible analysis of 20th-century brutality."--Kirkus Reviews


Book Description
This important book confronts the brutal history of the twentieth century to unravel the psychological mystery of why so many atrocities occurred--the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Gulag, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and others--and how we can prevent their recurrence. Jonathan Glover finds disturbing similarities in the psychology of those involved with atrocities, yet offers hope that the development of a political and personal moral imagination can empower us to resist all acts of cruelty.

FROM OUR EDITORS

One of the strongest works of moral philosophy of the last two decades, Humanity presents deeply felt and disturbing meditations on the 20th century's most brutal historical episodes. Jonathan Glover ambitiously attempts a moral psychology, tracing the patterns of human psychology that breed violence. Shrewd case studies examine the intellectual follies and moral horrors of the First World War's trench warfare, Hitler's Holocaust, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the ideologically driven social experimentation by Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, and the ethnic and tribal hatreds that tore apart the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The twentieth century was the most brutal in human history, featuring a litany of shameful events that includes the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Stalinist era, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. This important book looks at the politics of our times and the roots of human nature to discover why so many atrocities were perpetuated and how we can create a social environment to prevent their recurrence.

Jonathan Glover finds similarities in the psychology of those who perpetuate, collaborate in, and are complicit with atrocities, uncovering some disturbing common elements—tribal hatred, blind adherence to ideology, diminished personal responsibility—as well as characteristics unique to each situation. Acknowledging that human nature has a dark and destructive side, he proposes that we encourage the development of a political and personal moral imagination that will compel us to refrain from and protest all acts of cruelty.

SYNOPSIS

This important book confronts the brutal history of the twentieth century to unravel the psychological mystery of why so many atrocities occurred—the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Gulag, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and others—and how we can prevent their recurrence. Jonathan Glover finds disturbing similarities in the psychology of those involved with atrocities, yet offers hope that the development of a political and personal moral imagination can empower us to resist all acts of cruelty.

FROM THE CRITICS

Michael J. Kerlin - America Magazine

The history . . . is indeed horrifying, but it is also fascinating and instructive. . . . well worth reading.

Steven Pinker

This is an extraordinary book: brilliant, haunting and uniquely important. —New York Times Book Review

Shashi Tharoor

There is much that is excellent in Humanity, especially Glover￯﾿ﾽs lucid summary of the monstrosities of Stalinism—indispensable. —Los Angeles Times

George Scialabba

Humanity is a . . . contribution to the immense labor of understanding some of the worst experiences humankind has ever had. —Boston Globe

Houston Chronicle

This most original photography book of the season . . . opens up a world where time seems to have stopped.Read all 9 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

It is hard to imagine a more important book. Glover makes an overwhelming case for the need to understand our own inhumanity, and reduce or eliminate the ways in which it can express itself—(and he then begins the task himself. Humanity is an extraordinary achievement. — (Peter Singer, DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, University Center for Human Values, Princeton University)

Our libraries teem with tedious books that try to explain the modern world in terms of ideology or economics or power politics. But Jonathan Glover, by linking history with ethics, has found an unusually refreshing, thought-provoking and convincing approach.  — (Norman Davies, author of Europe: A History and The Isles: A History)

Humanity raises some of the most important issues of our time. — (Robert Conquest, author of Reflecting on a Ravaged Century