The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

  11. “Many sleepless nights”: Iliad 9.325–27, quoted in Gottschall, p. 58.

  12. The Hebrew Bible: Kugel, 2007.

  13. “Should our sister”: Genesis 34:25–31.

  14. “kill every male”: Numbers 31.

  15. “Thou shalt save alive nothing”: Deuteronomy 20:16–17.

  16. “utterly destroyed” Jericho: Joshua 6.

  17. “destroyed all that breathed”: Joshua 10:40–41.

  18. “Now go and smite Amalek”: 1 Samuel 15:3.

  19. Saul plots to have him killed: 1 Samuel 18:7.

  20. “wasted the country”: 1 Chronicles 20:1–3.

  21. Solomon’s “divine wisdom”: 1 Kings 3:23–28.

  22. Quantifying biblical homicide: Schwager, 2000, pp. 47, 60.

  23. Victims of the Noachian flood: Biblical literalists date the flood to around 2300 BCE. McEvedy & Jones, 1978, estimate that the world contained around 14 million people in 3000 BCE and 27 million in 2000 BCE.

  24. Real and fictitious biblical history: Kugel, 2007.

  25. Authorship of the Christian Bible: Ehrman, 2005.

  26. Pagan Jesuses: B. G. Walker, “The other Easters,” Freethought Today, Apr. 2008, pp. 6–7; Smith, 1952.

  27. Roman entertainment: Kyle, 1998.

  28. Forensics of crucifixion: Edwards, Gabel, & Hosmer, 1986.

  29. Martyrologies: Gallonio, 1903/2004; Kay, 2000.

  30. “The mother was present”: Quoted in Gallonio, 1903/2004, p. 133.

  31. Punishment for seven deadly sins: Lehner & Lehner, 1971.

  32. Inquisition: Grayling, 2007; Rummel, 1994.

  33. “As the levers bent forward”: Quoted in Bronowski, 1973, p. 216.

  34. Witch-burning statistics: Rummel, 1994.

  35. Augustine on snakes and rotten branches: Grayling, 2007, p. 25.

  36. “Burning men”: John 15:6.

  37. “Limiting ourselves to quantifiable instances”: Kaeuper, 2000, p. 24.

  38. “never killing a knight who begged for mercy”: Quoted in Kaeuper, 2000, p. 31.

  39. “take a lady or maiden in any way he desires”: Quoted in Kaeuper, 2000, p. 30.

  40. Henry V’s ultimatum: Henry V, Act 3, Scene III.

  41. Witch burned to death: Tatar, 2003, p. 207.

  42. Grimm’s fairy tales: Tatar, 2003.

  43. Punch and Judy: Schechter, 2005, pp. 83–84.

  44. Violence in nursery rhymes: Davies, Lee, Fox, & Fox, 2004.

  45. Hamilton: Chernow, 2004.

  46. Hamilton’s duel: Krystal, 2007.

  47. History of dueling: Krystal, 2007; Schwartz, Baxter, & Ryan, 1984.

  48. Humor as a weapon against honor: Pinker, 1997, chap. 8.

  49. Ridicule ended dueling: Stevens, 1940, pp. 280–83, quoted in Mueller, 1989, p. 10.

  50. Martial culture and its decline: Sheehan, 2008; van Creveld, 2008.

  51. Nonviolent German games: A. Curry, “Monopoly killer,” Wired, Apr. 2009.

  52. Decline of elite violence: Cooney, 1997.

  53. Misogynistic ads: Ad Nauseam, 2000. The Chase & Sanborn ad ran in Life magazine on Aug. 11, 1952.

  54. Changes in reactions to the word rape: Tom Jones, e-mail to the author, Nov. 19, 2010, reprinted with his permission.

  55. Beating schoolchildren: Personal communication from British and Catholic friends; also S. Lyall, “Blaming church, Ireland details scourge of abuse: Report spans 60 years,” New York Times, May 21, 2009.

  Chapter 2: The Pacification Process

  1. From a cartoon by Bob Mankoff.

  2. Darwin, genetics, and game theory: Maynard Smith, 1998; Maynard Smith & Szathmáry, 1997.

  3. “To a survival machine”: Dawkins, 1976/1989, p. 66.

  4. Animal violence: Williams, 1988; Wrangham, 1999a.

  5. “three principal causes of quarrel”: Hobbes, 1651/1957, p. 185.

  6. Competition over females: Darwin, 1874; Trivers, 1972.

  7. Misunderstandings of sexual selection: Pinker, 1997, 2002.

  8. Security dilemma: Schelling, 1960.

  9. “nothing can be more gentle than [man] in his primitive state”: Rousseau, 1755/1994, pp. 61–62.

  10. Peace and Harmony Mafia: Van der Dennen, 1995, 2005.

  11. Chimpanzee violence: Goodall, 1986; Wilson & Wrangham, 2003; Wrangham, 1999a; Mitani, Watts, & Amsler, 2010.

  12. Aggressive displays in animals: Maynard Smith, 1988; Wrangham, 1999a.

  13. Goodall’s shocking discovery: Goodall, 1986.

  14. Lethal violence in chimpanzees: Wilson & Wrangham, 2003; Wrangham, 1999a; Wrangham, Wilson, & Muller, 2006.

  15. Adaptive value of chimpicide: Wilson & Wrangham, 2003; Wrangham, 1999a; Wrangham &

  Peterson, 1996; Mitani et al., 2010.

  16. Bonobos: de Waal & Lanting, 1997; Furuichi & Thompson, 2008; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996. Bonobos and popular culture: I. Parker, “Swingers,” New Yorker, Jul. 30, 2007; M. Dowd, “The Baby Bust,” New York Times, Apr. 10, 2002.

  17. Bonobos as model of human ancestor: de Waal, 1996; de Waal & Lanting, 1997.

  18. Bonobos in the wild: Furuichi & Thompson, 2008; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996; I. Parker, “Swingers,” New Yorker, Jul. 30, 2007.

  19. Bonobos as outliers: Wrangham & Pilbeam, 2001.

  20. Sexual dimorphism and male-male competition: Plavcan, 2000.

  21. Ardipithecus ramidus: White et al., 2009.

  22. Sexual dimorphism and male-male competition in Homo: Plavcan, 2000; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996, pp. 178–82.

  23. Neolithic Revolution: Diamond, 1997; Gat, 2006; Otterbein, 2004.

  24. Wave of farming: Cavalli-Sforza, 2000; Gat, 2006.

  25. Kinds of societies: Gat, 2006.

  26. First states: Diamond, 1997; Gat, 2006; Kurtz, 2001; Otterbein, 2004.

  27. Modern chiefdoms: Goldstein, 2011.

  28. Early states as protection rackets: Gat, 2006; Kurtz, 2001; North, Wallis, & Weingast, 2009; Otterbein, 2004; Steckel & Wallis, 2009; Tilly, 1985.

  29. Effeminate Chambri: Daly & Wilson, 1988, p. 152.

  30. Dirty tricks against anthropologists: Freeman, 1999; Pinker, 2002, chap. 6; Dreger, 2011; C. C. Mann, “Chagnon critics overstepped bounds, historian says,” Science, Dec. 11, 2009.

  31. Myths of harmless primitive warfare: Keeley, 1996.

  32. “little to fight about”: Eckhardt, 1992, p. 1.

  33. Pre-state violence: Keeley, 1996; LeBlanc, 2003; Gat, 2006; Van der Dennen, 1995; Thayer, 2004; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996.

  34. Raids in primitive warfare: Chagnon, 1996; Gat, 2006; Keeley, 1996; LeBlanc, 2003; Thayer, 2004; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996.

  35. Primitive weaponry: Keeley, 1996.

  36. “[they] delight to torment men”: Quoted in Schechter, 2005, p. 2.

  37. Yanomamö raid: Valero & Biocca, 1970.

  38. Wathaurung raid: Morgan, 1852/1979, pp. 43–44.

  39. Iñupiaq raid: Burch, 2005, p. 110.

  40. Cannibalism: Fernández-Jalvo et al., 1996; Gibbons, 1997.

  41. Prion diseases: E. Pennisi, “Cannibalism and prion disease may have been rampant in ancient humans,” Science, Apr. 11, 2003, pp. 227–28.

  42. Maori warrior taunt: A. Vayda’s Maori warfare (1960), quoted in Keeley, 1996, p. 100.

  43. Motives for primitive warfare: Chagnon, 1988; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Gat, 2006; Keeley, 1996; Wiessner, 2006.

  44. Yanomamö man “tired of fighting”: Quoted in Wilson, 1978, pp. 119–20.

  45. Universality of revenge: Daly & Wilson, 1988; McCullough, 2008.

  46. Body counts in nonstate societies: Bowles, 2009; Gat, 2006; Keeley, 1996.

  47. Forensic archaeology: Keeley, 1996; McCall & Shields, 2007; Steckel & Wallis, 2009; Thorpe, 2003; Walker, 2001.

  48. Death by violence in prehistoric societies: Bowles, 2009; Keeley, 1996.

  49. Death by violence in hunter-gatherers: Bowles, 2009.

  50. Death by violence in hunter-horticulturalists and tribal farmers: Gat,
2006; Keeley, 1996.

  51. Death by violence in state societies: Keeley, 1996.

  52. Rates of death in war: The 3 percent estimate comes from Wright’s sixteen-hundred-page A study of war: Wright, 1942, p. 245. The first edition was completed in November 1941, before World War II’s most destructive years. The figure was unchanged, however, in the 1965 revision (Wright, 1942/1965, p. 245), and in the 1964 abridgment (Wright, 1942/1964, p. 60), though the latter mentions Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in the same paragraph. I assume the unchanged estimate was intentional, and that the additional world war deaths were offset by the billion people added to the world during the more fecund and less lethal postwar decades.

  53. 20th-century U.S. and Europe estimate: Keeley, 1996, from Harris, 1975.

  54. Battle deaths are summed for the years 1900 through 1945 inclusive from the three Correlates of War datasets (Inter-State, Extrastate, and Intrastate), using the larger figure of the two columns “State Deaths” and “Total Deaths” (Sarkees, 2000; http://www.correlatesofwar.org), together with the geometric mean of the “Battle Dead Low” and “Battle Dead High” estimates for the years 1946 to 2000 inclusive from the PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset (Gleditsch, Wallensteen, Eriksson, Sollenberg, & Strand, 2002; Lacina & Gleditsch, 2005; http://www.prio.no/Data/).

  55. 20th-century battle deaths: The denominator of 6 billion deaths comes from an estimate that 12 billion people lived in the 20th century (Mueller, 2004b, p. 193) and that about 5.75 billion were alive at the century’s end.

  56. 180 million violent deaths: White, in press; the 3 percent figure comes from using 6.25 billion as the estimate of the total number of deaths; see note 55.

  57. Iraq and Afghanistan casualties: Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, www.icasualties.org.

  58. War battle death rate: Human Security Report Project, 2008, p. 29. The worldwide death estimate of 56.5 million deaths is from the World Health Organization. The twentyfold multiplier is based on the WHO estimate of 310,000 “war-related deaths” in 2000, the most recent year available in the World report on violence and health. See Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi, & Lozano, 2002, p. 10.

  59. Death by violence in pre-Columbian nonstate and state societies: Steckel & Wallis, 2009.

  60. Homicide rates in modern Europe: Eisner, 2001.

  61. United States homicide rates in the 1970s and 1980s: Daly & Wilson, 1988.

  62. Aztecs: Keeley, 1996, table 6.1, p. 195.

  63. Death rates for France, Russia, Germany, and Japan: Keeley, 1996, table 6.1, p. 195; 20th-century figures are pro-rated for missing years.

  64. Deaths in American wars: Leland & Oboroceanu, 2010, “Total Deaths” column. Population figures are from U.S. Census, http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/hist_stats.html.

  65. All violent 20th-century deaths: Based on 180 million deaths estimated by White, in press, and an average annual world population for the 20th century of 3 billion.

  66. 2005 battle deaths: United States: www.icasualties.org. World: UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset, Human Security Report Project, 2007; see Human Security Centre, 2005, based in part on data from Gleditsch et al., 2002, and Lacina & Gleditsch, 2005.

  67. Prevalence of war among hunter-gatherers: Divale, 1972; Ember, 1978; Keeley, 1996. See also Chagnon, 1988; Gat, 2006; Knauft, 1987; Otterbein, 2004. Van der Dennen, 2005, cites eight estimates of the proportion of nonstate societies that have rarely or never engaged in war; the median is 15 percent.

  68. Andamanese: “Noble or savage? The era of the hunter-gatherer was not the social and environmental Eden that some suggest,” Economist, Dec. 19, 2007.

  69. Defeated refugees: Gat, 2006; Keeley, 1996; Van der Dennen, 2005.

  70. Violent !Kung San past: Goldstein, 2001, p. 28.

  71. Semai violence: Knauft, 1987.

  72. !Kung and Central Arctic Inuit: Gat, 2006; Lee, 1982.

  73. United States homicide rates: Fox & Zawitz, 2007; Zahn & McCall, 1999; Pax Botswaniana: Gat, 2006.

  74. Pax Canadiana: Chirot & McCauley, 2006, p. 114.

  75. “Life was better since the government came”: Quoted in Thayer, 2004, p. 140.

  76. Retribution, feuds, and adjudication: Ericksen & Horton, 1992.

  77. Increase in violence with decolonization: Wiessner, 2006.

  78. Health hazards of civilization: Steckel & Wallis, 2009; Diamond, 1997.

  79. Fall from Eden and early civilization: Kugel, 2007.

  80. Hunting-farming tradeoff: Gat, 2006; North et al., 2009; Steckel & Wallis, 2009.

  81. First states: Steckel & Wallis, 2009.

  82. Cruelty and despotism in early states: Betzig, 1986; Otterbein, 2004; Spitzer, 1975.

  Chapter 3: The Civilizing Process

  1. Norbert Elias: Fletcher, 1997.

  2. Gurr graph of homicide in England: Gurr, 1981.

  3. Survey of violence perception: See note 1 to chapter 1.

  4. History of homicide: Cockburn, 1991; Eisner, 2001, 2003; Johnson & Monkkonen, 1996; Monkkonen, 1997; Spierenburg, 2008.

  5. Long-term homicide trends: Eisner, 2003.

  6. Homicides in Kent: Cockburn, 1991.

  7. Correlation of homicide with other violence: Eisner, 2003, pp. 93–94; Zimring, 2007; Marvell, 1999; Daly & Wilson, 1988.

  8. Quacks: Keeley, 1996, pp. 94–97; Eisner, 2003, pp. 94–95.

  9. Constancies in homicide: Eisner, 2003, 2009; Daly & Wilson, 1988.

  10. Decline in elite violence: Eisner, 2003; Clark, 2007a, p. 122; Cooney, 1997.

  11. Verkko’s Law: Daly & Wilson, 1988; Eisner, 2003; Eisner, 2008.

  12. The medieval housebook: Elias, 1939/2000, pp. 513–16; discussion on pp. 172–82; Graf zu Waldburg Wolfegg, 1988.

  13. Furious gusto of knightly destruction: Tuchman, 1978, p. 8.

  14. Everyday violence in the Middle Ages: Elias, 1939/2000, p. 168.

  15. “his brains flowed forth”: Hanawalt, 1976, pp. 311–12, quoted in Monkkonen, 2001, p. 154.

  16. Violent medieval entertainment: Tuchman, 1978, p. 135.

  17. Cutting off noses: Groebner, 1995.

  18. “whether a nose once cut off can grow back”: Groebner, 1995, p. 4.

  19. Impetuousness in the Middle Ages: Elias, 1939/2000, pp. 168–69.

  20. “childishness noticeable in medieval behavior”: Tuchman, 1978, p. 52.

  21. “slight compression of the lips”: D. L. Sayers, introduction, The song of Roland (New York: Viking, 1957), p. 15, quoted in Kaeuper, 2000, p. 33.

  22. “pearls and rubies” in handkerchief: Elias, 1939/2000, p. 123.

  23. “anything purulent”: Elias, 1939/2000, p. 130.

  24. Disgust as an adaptation: Curtis & Biran, 2001; Pinker, 1997, chap. 6; Rozin & Fallon, 1987.

  25. Changes in swearing: Pinker, 2007b, chap. 7.

  26. Pissabeds and windfuckers: Hughes, 1991/1998, p. 3.

  27. Self-control: Daly & Wilson, 2000; Pinker, 1997, chap. 6; Schelling, 1984.

  28. Universal propriety: Brown, 1991; Duerr, 1988–97, but see Mennell & Goudsblom, 1997.

  29. “no zero point”: Elias, 1939/2000, pp. 135, 181, 403, 421.

  30. Number of political units in Europe: Wright, 1942, p. 215; Richardson, 1960, pp. 168–69.

  31. Military revolution: Levy, Walker, & Edwards, 2001.

  32. “States make war and vice-versa”: Tilly, 1985.

  33. King’s peace: Daly & Wilson, 1988, p. 242.

  34. Blood money and coroners: Daly & Wilson, 1988, pp. 241–45.

  35. “The Christian attitude . . . held that money was evil”: Tuchman, 1978, p. 37.

  36. “commercial law prohibited innovation”: Tuchman, 1978, p. 37.

  37. Evolution of cooperation: Cosmides & Tooby, 1992; Ridley, 1997; Trivers, 1971.

  38. Free markets and empathy: Mueller, 1999, 2010b.

  39. Doux commerce: Quoted in Fukuyama, 1999, p. 254.

  40. Major transitions in evolution: Maynard Smith & Szathmáry, 1997. For a review, see Pinker, 2000.

/>   41. Positive-sum games and progress: Wright, 2000.

  42. Decivilizing process in Nazi Germany: de Swaan, 2001; Fletcher, 1997; Krieken, 1998; Mennell, 1990; Steenhuis, 1984.

  43. Continuation of homicide decline in Nazi Germany: Eisner, 2008.

  44. Problems for the Civilizing Process: Eisner, 2003.

  45. State legitimacy and nonviolence: Eisner, 2003; Roth, 2009.

  46. Informal norms of cooperation: Ellickson, 1991; Fukuyama, 1999; Ridley, 1997.

  47. Equality matching: Fiske, 1992; see also “Morality and Taboo” in chap. 9 of this book.

  48. Homicide rate in ranchers: Roth, 2009, p. 355. The rate per 100,000 adults for ranchers, taken from figure 7.2, is multiplied by 0.65 to convert it to a rate per 100,000 people, as suggested on p. 495 of Roth’s book.

  49. Changing socioeconomic profile of violence: Cooney, 1997; Eisner, 2003.

  50. “I have beat many a fellow”: Quoted in Wouters, 2007, p. 37.

  51. “There are men to whom nothing”: Quoted in Wouters, 2007, p. 37.

  52. “With the battle-ax”: S. Sailer, 2004, “More diversity = Less welfare?” http://www.vdare.com/sailer/diverse.htm.

  53. Civilization of the middle and working classes: Spierenburg, 2008; Wiener, 2004; Wood, 2004.

  54. Crime as self-help justice: Black, 1983; Wood, 2003.

  55. Motives for homicide: Black, 1983; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Eisner, 2009.

  56. Murderers as martyrs: Black, 1983, p. 39.

  57. Violence as a public health problem: See Pinker, 2002, chap. 17.

  58. Definition of a mental disorder: Wakefield, 1992.

  59. Police and African Americans: Black, 1980, 134–41, quoted in Cooney, 1997, p. 394.

  60. Judicial system uninterested in low-status people: Cooney, 1997, p. 394.

  61. neighborhood knucklehead: MacDonald, 2006.

  62. Self-help in the inner city: Wilkinson, Beaty, & Lurry, 2009.

  63. Persistence of clan violence in Europe: Eisner, 2003; Gat, 2006.

  64. Fine line between civil war and organized crime: Mueller, 2004a.

  65. Reliability of cross-national crime statistics: LaFree, 1999; LaFree & Tseloni, 2006.

  66. The homicide rates for individual countries come from UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 2009. If a WHO estimate is listed, I used that; if not, I report the geometric mean between the high and low estimates.