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AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Blending insights from evolutionary biology, cognitive science and anthropology, Sauer has made a heroic effort to chart how morality has changed’ Economist

‘The best thing on morality I have ever read’ Paul Bloom

‘A brisk, engaging survey covering five million years of human history’ Financial Times

The history of humankind is punctuated by a series of transformational leaps. Just as good and evil cannot exist without the other, each new configuration for how we live together – how we distinguish and enforce right from wrong – was accompanied by new sins.

Collaboration gives rise to division; culture requires exclusion; and justice demands punishment. The morality of early civilisations is markedly different from that in the dark ages or the enlightenment. As for the present day, did morality follow us here? Or did it lead the way?

Philosopher and professor of Ethics Hanno Sauer traces the path of our moral transformations from our earliest ancestors to this very moment and beyond.

Publisher Review

A brisk, engaging survey covering five million years of human history -- Nilanjana Roy * Financial Times * Intriguing, startling and often thrilling * Spectator * Blending insights from evolutionary biology, cognitive science and anthropology, Sauer has made a heroic effort to chart how morality has changed. A rich, complex narrative, full of unexpected twists * Economist * An ambitious and anecdote-rich sweeping history of morality's growing influence over our lives * Wall Street Journal * Beautifully written and brilliantly argued. Hanno Sauer cuts through confusion and cliche to offer a sweeping, compelling account of where our moral ideas come from and why they matter -- Paul Bloom, author of PSYCH Sauer's comprehensive history of morality from the origins of humanity until today provides a solid basis for contemporary debates - cleverly written, entertaining, and an invitation to rethink one's beliefs * German Non-Fiction Award Jury * Fascinating -- James Hanson * Times Radio * A big book with a broad reach, written by an adroit, confident author ... Sauer is at his best when expounding today's febrile headlines [and] is the best navigator through the treacherous waters of postmodern and post-postmodern sociology that I know -- Charles Foster * Times Literary Supplement * Hanno Sauer is a philosopher not shying away from the big questions. The Invention of Good and Evil charts the evolution of moralistic thinking from our earliest ancestors to the present day ... asking us to consider what it means to be good but also what it means to be right [and is] absolutely fascinating -- Sophie Scott-Brown * Intelligence Squared * Traces humankind's most fundamental moral transformations from our earliest ancestors in East Africa adopting punitive behaviour to punish wrongdoers to today, where egalitarianism has been replaced with hierarchism ... a testament to Sauer's capacity to show that there are two sides to everything -- Zoe Huxford * New Statesman * A tour de force through the history of our values * Der Standard, Austria * One of the best non-fiction books of the year * El Mundo, Spain * Elegant, confident, eloquent and smart -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany This look into the past is very entertaining, versatile, interestingly presented and at the same time razor-sharp and full of surprises. * Munchner Merkur, Germany * Sauer hits the nail on the head of our current times * Galore Magazine, Germany * Hanno Sauer is one of the most astute ethicists of his generation. So far, there has been no history of morality told from the perspective of philosophy. Sauer closes this gap: knowledgeable, funny and entertaining. -- Philipp Hubl, philosopher and author