After Eden: A Short History of the World

In After Eden, prominent Latin American historian John Charles Chasteen provides a concise history of world, in which he explores the origins and persistence of the timeless phenomena of humanity’s inhumanity to itself. Where did it come from? Why has it been so prevalent throughout our history? And, most importantly, can we overcome it? Chasteen argues that to do so, we must understand our shared past and that while much of it is violent, we can look for inspiration from major periods when we strived to live more co-operatively. These include our early foraging periods; the creation of universal religions and ethical systems; the birth of the ideas of individual liberty and freedom; the rise of socialism in response to the massive excesses of global capitalism; the civil rights and decolonisation movements of the twentieth century; and the environmental and social justice movements of today.