Many of us read William Goldingâs Lord of the Flies in high school â and itâs still being taught. The 1954 novel depicts the gradual descent into barbaric darkness by a group of English schoolboys shipwrecked on a small, deserted island. Its portrayal of innate human depravity was hailed at the time for its unblinking ârealism.â Only⦠it was total bulls#*t. In his superb 2019 work Humankind: A Hopeful History, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman documents that Golding had no knowledge of behavioral science and was hardly an impartial judge of childrenâs propensities. Rather, he was an alcoholic prone to depression who beat his own kids. âI have always understood the Nazis,â Goldman once said, âbecause I am of that sort by nature.â So he made up the story, and it wasnât about childrenâs dark nature, but his own.