'Prisons We Choose to Live Inside' is a collection of six remarkable lectures in which Doris Lessing explores the thesis that we are ‘dominated by our savage past, as individuals and as groups.’ Drawing liberally from history, politics and literature, she demonstrates how this ‘innate primitivism’ has manifested itself throughout the ages, as war fever, mindless brutality, racism, and religious and political fervour – all fuelled by rhetoric and the language of ideology. Despite the extraordinary advances made in the social sciences, thus equipping us more than ever before with the means to analyse, predict and defuse our self-destructive behaviour, we are still unable to control our barbaric instincts and escape from the prison of our human nature. An incisive and passionately-argued polemic, highlighting many of the themes at work in Doris Lessing’s novels, 'Prisons We Choose to Live Inside' is both a superb introduction to the thought of one on this century’s most influential writers and a brilliant dissection of the irrationalities and foibles of mankind. ‘I think when people look back at our time, they will be annoyed at one thing more than any other. It is this – that we do know more about ourselves now than people did in the past, but that very little of this knowledge has been put into effect… people to come will marvel at it, as we marvel at the blindness an inflexibility of our ancestors.’DORIS LESSING, from 'When in the Future They Look Back on Us' ‘A major figure in twentieth-century literature, Doris Lessing’s labours and prodigious output have helped to change the way we see ourselves.’MICHÈLE ROBERTS, 'New Statesman'