Lord of the Flies

What a thin line separates civilization from barbarism!

British Nobel laureate William Golding's 1954 debut novel is still a vivid allegory of tyranny, fanaticism and the innate propensity of human nature to evil.

During an unspecified world war, an evacuation plane crashes on a small uninhabited island. Only a group of school-age boys will be saved. At first, the boys are excited about what adventures await them, they cooperate with each other, support each other. However, the game of Robinson Crusoe soon turns into a fight of all against all, in which the main advantage is power, authority and the ability to spread fear.

The book turns to the ever-present question: Is civilization really as ingrained in our behavior as we tell ourselves it is? Or are we still just members of the pack? Under certain conditions, combined with our mental makeup, we can commit atrocities we would never have thought of before.