A review by lucyismyname
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

4.0

Ultimately I was convinced that the world is getting better by Pinker’s thorough overview of recent and historical trends. However, Pinker makes what are most likely calculated omissions of phenomena that do not fit into his thesis; for example, there is an entire chapter on inequality with no mention of how inequality negatively effects democracy in the US, and little mention of its effects on class mobility. He also spends half a chapter making snarky comments about how appeasement of ‘justice warriors’ has taken over American universities without any evaluation of the benefits of an education system that reconciles the differences in background and culture of their students and provides leniency for the personal struggles of students.