This book has a somewhat convoluted history. Mark Micale and I first met in Newcastle in
2017 when he was invited to come and work at the Centre for the History of Violence (as it
was then known). I recall being in his office when he showed me an article in the Sydney
Morning Herald about a tweet posted by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the
richest people on the planet. In it, Gates told college students, who were then completing
their studies in great numbers across North America, that they should read Pinker’s Better
Angels of Our Nature. ‘[Steven Pinker] shows how the world is getting better’, Gates
proclaimed. ‘Sounds crazy but it’s true. This is the most peaceful time in human history.’
‘That matters’, Gates added, ‘because if you think the world is getting better, you want to