Humankind: A Hopeful History

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 popular ideas of humankind's essential egotism and malevolence. It engages in a multi-disciplinary study of historical events, an examination of scientific studies, and philosophical argumentation to advance Bregman's opinion that, contrary to popular opinion, this outlook is more realistic than its more negative counterpart. It has been translated into over 30 languages. In the United States, the paperback release was a New York Times Best Seller.