Better Angels or False Prophets?

How the gospel of progress fails the voiceless and flatters the powerful.

While reading Tribe of Mentors (one of my favorite Tim Ferris books), I noticed a pattern. Again and again, the intellectuals featured in the book—people who shape culture, tech, policy, and philosophy—listed The Better Angels of Our Nature as one of the most influential books they’d ever read. Bill Gates called it “the most inspiring book” he’d ever re…