Humankind: A Hopeful History

Humankind: A Hopeful History
First edition (Dutch)
AuthorRutger Bregman
Original titleDe Meeste Mensen Deugen: Een Nieuwe Geschiedenis van de Mens
Translators
  • Elizabeth Manton
  • Erica Moore
LanguageEnglish
Subject
GenreNon-fiction, history
PublisherBloomsbury
Little, Brown and Company
Publication date
September 2019
Publication placeNetherlands
Published in English
13 May 2021
Media typeHardcover
Pages496
Awards
  • Publieksprijs voor het Nederlandse Boek (2020)
  • Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for History & Biography (2020)
ISBN9781408898932
OCLC1119596186

Humankind: A Hopeful History (Dutch: De Meeste Mensen Deugen: Een Nieuwe Geschiedenis van de Mens) is a 2019 non-fiction book by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman. It was published by Bloomsbury in May 2021. It argues that people are decent at heart and proposes a new worldview based on the corollaries of this optimistic view of human beings. It argues against ideas of humankind's essential egotism and malevolence. The book engages in a multi-disciplinary study of historical events, an examination of scientific studies, and philosophical argumentation in order to advance Bregman's opinion that, this outlook is more realistic compared to its negative counterpart. It has been translated into over 30 languages. In the United States, the paperback release was a New York Times Best Seller.