Book excerpt: Even in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, under pressure, people often manage to behave with great humanity. With all the drama in conflicted or violent situations, it can be easy to overlook this and to assume that everyone switches to a dog-eat-dog approach. This collection of stories, drawn largely from the working life of the author in conflict transformation and mediation, illustrates a variety of examples of extraordinary humanity, which can show us that there is a place to stand and a way to be human in inhuman situations. And it can help us to notice examples of this around us. Discussion questions included.