ED’S LETTER
I clearly remember the first time I read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, because the horror of it has never left me. If you happily can’t remember it, here’s a one-line summary: a group of boys stranded on a desert island instantly form power hierarchies and, in the absence of external civilising influences, become brutal and vicious. The idea is that civilisation is a thin veneer, easily stripped away – and when it is, the real nature of humans is base and cruel. In the many years since, that hasn’t really been the way the world seems to me. I think that generally, people are pretty kind and want to cooperate, even in dire circumstances. So I’m delighted to hear about Humankind, a new book by Dutch historian and writer…
