It all started with a conversation in Kenya when the author realized that the African concept for tribe is people that share the same language. Because they share the same cultural references and behaviours. And that’s an incredible approach. You can have tribes that form a nation (like Portugal) or different tribes that share a country (like Belgium or Spain). Because if you look at history, languages (and what they symbolize) have a key role in the formation of tribes, countries and nations but also in the clash between tribes. The disintegration of Christianity, the construction of the State of Israel, the African case, the cold war or the recent adoption of Mandarin as the only language in China are some of the examples. Pax English is not about linguistic. It’s about languages and the part they have in our past, present and future as a society. And to do that the book crosses different areas of knowledge and sciences. From history to economy, from sociology to neurosciences. Because to understand how languages parish or triumph we need to comprehend how words, narratives and ideas spread from one tribe to another.

The world has more than 7000 languages. UNESCO tell us that half will be extinct by the end of the century. Maybe its good news. Lesser languages mean lesser tribes. Lesser cultural diversity. But cultural diversity is also the mother of all conflicts. When more and more people learn English, they also access a common cultural matrix being formed since 1946 where we share common values and the idea of a pan tribal cooperation. Maybe English is the dream of Doctor Esperanto. If that’s the case we are heading for a world with one tribe. Living in a Pax English.