Summary of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's A Short History of Man

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The start of human history is 50,000 years ago, when behaviorally modern man had evolved into anatomically modern man. This is an eminently reasonable starting point, as humans at this time were still inept at hunting and unable to travel far. But around 50,000 years ago, humans began to develop a more advanced toolkit. #2 Human coordination was achieved via language, which allowed knowledge to be transmitted to distant places and times and communicated about. With language, humans could also communicate about matters far away in time and place. #3 The life of hunter-gatherers was initially good, but the challenge of population growth was inevitable. People could try to prevent such pressure from emerging by limiting the number of pregnancies, but that did not solve the problem. #4 The first option, fighting, was not as bad as it sounds. Primitive man was far more warlike than contemporary man, and they had a high mortality rate from unnatural causes.