Lionel Shriver Lionel Shriver

The biggest story on the planet

The growth, decline and movement of populations are what really shape the modern world, argues Paul Morland in his impressive book, The Human Tide

issue 02 February 2019

One of my vanities is that all my novels are different. Yet one astute journalist identified a universal thread: ‘Too many people,’ she said. From among the many other piquant factoids in Paul Morland’s The Human Tide, I was unnerved to learn that ‘Hitler was obsessed with demography’ too.

Whether you also suffer from this unhealthy preoccupation or are simply shopping for a new way of looking at the world, this is a readable, trenchant, up-to-date overview of the biggest story on the planet — one in which we’re all actors.

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