Summary, Analysis, and Review of Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature
Why Violence Has Declined
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Narrated by:
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Michael Gilboe
About this listen
Please note: This is an analysis and key takeaways of the book and is not the original book.
Start Publishing Notes' Summary, Analysis, and Review of Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined includes:
- Summary of the book
- A review
- Analysis and key takeaways
- A detailed "About the Author" section
Preview:
Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature argues that violence has been decreasing over most of human history. People have innate tendencies towards violence, but they also have innate tendencies towards peace. Historical developments, especially the consolidation of state power and the Enlightenment, have allowed humans to move away from violence, murder, and war, and move towards more peaceful ways of living.
The Better Angels of Our Nature is a daring, provocative, and important book. As Pinker himself notes, journalists and pundits generally argue that the world is getting worse and that we live in uniquely dangerous or violent times. The September 11 attacks, the threat of terrorism, and the ongoing wars in the Middle East are presented as evidence of increasing violence, chaos, and instability. Pessimism is seen as realism, and policymakers declare that unprecedented effort is required to avert crises.
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Widely respected as a civil libertarian, legal educator, and defense attorney extraordinaire, Alan M. Dershowitz has also been a passionate though not uncritical supporter of Israel. In this audiobook, he presents an ardent defense of Israel's rights, supported by indisputable evidence. Dershowitz takes a close look at what Israel's accusers and detractors are saying about this war-torn country. He accuses those who attack Israel of international bigotry and backs up his argument with hard facts.
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Excellent
- By Marcus James on 06-14-18
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The Enemy at Home
- The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11
- By: Dinesh D'Souza
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Dinesh D'Souza, the most original and controversial writer on politics and society in the U.S. today, uncovers the links between the spread of American pop culture, leftist ideas, and secular values and the rise of anti-Americanism throughout the world. In The Enemy at Home, D'Souza makes the startling claim that 9/11 and other terrorist acts can be directly traced to the ideas and attitudes perpetrated by America's cultural left.
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FINALLY, Someone gets it!!
- By Ron Egolf on 03-21-07
By: Dinesh D'Souza
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The End of History and the Last Man
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.
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An important discussion expertly narrated
- By Kevin Teeple on 06-27-19
By: Francis Fukuyama
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How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too)
- By: David Goldman
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Past and present civilizations failed and fail for many reasons, but the number-one predictor of a civilization’s survival is its sense of religion—or lack thereof. So argues David Goldman in How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying Too). The strength of a civilization’s religion affects its purpose, its fertility rate, and ultimately, its fate, says Goldman—who then argues that, contrary to popular belief, Islamic countries are in the last throes of death while Christian America is in a position to flourish.
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Pseudointellectual Clickbait
- By Sam on 12-22-20
By: David Goldman
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Why?
- Explaining the Holocaust
- By: Peter Hayes
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite the outpouring of books, movies, museums, memorials, and courses devoted to the Holocaust, a coherent explanation of why such ghastly carnage erupted from the heart of civilized Europe in the 20th century still seems elusive even 70 years later. Numerous theories have sprouted in an attempt to console ourselves and to point the blame in emotionally satisfying directions - yet none of them are fully convincing.
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Outstanding book! A must read
- By Pierre on 11-13-21
By: Peter Hayes
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The Faith Instinct
- How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?
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If you're religious or into religion read this
- By Adam on 08-16-10
By: Nicholas Wade
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The Tyranny of Clichés
- How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas
- By: Jonah Goldberg
- Narrated by: Jonah Goldberg
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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According to Goldberg, if the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, the greatest trick liberals ever pulled was convincing themselves they’re not ideological. Today “objective” journalists and academics and “moderate” politicians peddle some of the most radical arguments by hiding them in homespun aphorisms.
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I enjoyed it...and I'm a Democrat!!
- By Private. on 05-14-12
By: Jonah Goldberg
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China in the 21st Century, 3rd Edition
- What Everyone Needs to Know
- By: Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In this fully revised and updated third edition, Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom and Maura Elizabeth Cunningham provide cogent answers to urgent questions regarding the world's newest superpower and offer a framework for understanding China's meteoric rise from developing country to superpower. Framing their answers through the historical legacies that largely define China's present-day trajectory, Wasserstrom and Cunningham introduce listeners to the Chinese Communist Party, the building boom in Shanghai, and the environmental fallout of rapid Chinese industrialization.
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Amazing!
- By Anonymous User on 07-11-20
By: Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, and others
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Identity
- The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to “the people”, who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole.
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Robotic narrator
- By Shahin on 09-19-18
By: Francis Fukuyama
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Asabiyyah
- What Ibn Khaldun, the Islamic Father of Social Science, Can Teach Us About the World Today
- By: Ed West
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 1 hr and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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A quarter of a century after the end of Communism swept away the ideological conflict of the "short 20th century", a new world is once again taking shape, this time in the Middle East. But what does the crisis in the region, and its refugee exodus into Europe, signify for the future of the world? And why has the noble dream of nation-building failed? Focusing mainly on religion, ideology or economics, most analysis ignored one crucial factor: asabiyyah, or group feeling, something outlined six and a half centuries ago.
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good contrast
- By Antonio on 09-05-16
By: Ed West
What listeners say about Summary, Analysis, and Review of Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Clear, concise summary and critique
Narration: clear and professional
Content: appears to cover most prominent of Pinker’s ideas and arguments. As well, it is a thoughtful, critical critique of this material, including writing style and excessive book length.
Highly recommend{
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- earley bird
- 10-04-18
Why do I feel like the narrator is talking down to me?
The narrator has a posh, condescending tone that makes this feel more like an attack than a review. With that said, i have already read the original work by Pinker and it is very dry and information-dense. Nevertheless it is still a compelling case that this is a great period of time to be alive, despite present day challenges.
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