The Past Was Still A Golden Age,

One Person Making A Wrong Decision Affects The Whole Country.

I Decided That Now Is The Time To Start Doing The Things That Really Interest Me And I Find Important. It Was In The 10 Years Of The Macarthur Grant That I Began Working On My First Book... And I Began Putting More Work Into Environmental History.

The Past Was Still A Golden Age, Of Ignorance, While The Present Is An Iron Age Of Willful Bliss.

In The Latter Case It Is Often Government That Organizes The Conquest, And Religion That Justifies It.

Besides Justifying The Transfer Of Wealth To Kleptocrats, Institutionalized Religion Brings Two Other Important Benefits To Centralized Societies. First, Shared Ideology Or Religion Helps Solve The Problem Of How Unrelated Individuals Are To Live Together Without Killing Each Other—by Providing Them With A Bond Not Based On Kinship. Second, It Gives People A Motive, Other Than Genetic Self-interest, For Sacrificing Their Lives On Behalf Of Others.