Simply Human: A Guide to Understanding and Combating Hate

by Kenneth S. Stern

In Simply Human, leading global hate studies experts join forces, guiding us to a better understanding of human hatred, what works to confront it, what doesn’t, and why. Edited by Kenneth Stern, a founder of the field of Hate Studies and the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, this book will change the way you think about how hate affects our lives and our politics. It’s “simply human” that we are too often pulled into the seductive comfort of “us versus them” thinking. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do better as individuals and societies. Simply Human will challenge readers look to at the world in a new light, take action against hate, and put meaning behind their words.
This easy-to-read volume, co-created by experts in brain science, political science, social psychology, and philosophy, includes a checklist of key takeaways from each contributor that can be used as an educational tool in classrooms, workplaces, and beyond. Hate is too corrosive for our societies, and costs too much, both morally and economically, for us to continue shooting in the dark. This book provides enlightening perspectives on our relationships to hatred and can be considered a blueprint for sharper thinking and more effective action.

360 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2025

About the author

Kenneth S. Stern is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate. An attorney and award-winning author, he was the American Jewish Committee's expert on antisemitism for 25 years. He has argued before the United States Supreme Court, testified before Congress (as well as before committees of parliamentarians in Canada and the U.K.), was an invited presenter at the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Stockholm Forum on Combating Intolerance, and was a part of the defense team supporting Dr. Deborah Lipstadt in her historic London Holocaust denial trial. Stern was also trial and appellate counsel for American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks. Mr. Stern's op-eds and book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Guardian, the Forward and elsewhere. Mr. Stern has appeared on the CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Dateline, Nightline, Face the Nation, the History Channel, NPR, and many other television and radio programs. He was also the lead drafter of the "working definition" of antisemitism.