In 1987 our editor and publisher, Tony Balis, and our very first volunteer, Janel Kasparson, began work on our journal, humanity. We designed it as a positive conversation with the world, one that investigates our common humanity. Sixty percent non-fiction and forty percent photography, it was geared to an ever-pressing consideration of the less fortunate, the disenfranchised.  

Tony and Janel soon were joined by writers and photographers, poets, designers and other volunteers from across the globe, most significantly by Professor Tom Ockerse, then head of Graphic Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), who has been working with THI ever since. Tom and his team at RISD spent over eighteen months in 1989 and 1990 developing our design language.

The first person we invited to write for humanity was His Holiness The Dalai Lama. In a private audience with Tony in the fall of 1990, he agreed to write the first humanity essay, addressed to the children of the world.

In 1991 we published our sixteen-page preview and subsequently two full issues, the premier in 1996 and our second issue in 1997, each thirty-two pages. Our original contributors included two other Nobel Prize winners, Wole Soyinka and Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as a nineteen-year-old Australian student named Anouk Russell and additional outstanding writers, photographers and poets from twenty-four countries.

The reaction to humanity from across the planet was overwhelmingly positive. Throughout 1997 and early 1998 we continued planning for a third issue, hoping to publish at least annually. However we simply were not able to find the financial resources to commit clearly to publishing again.

Reluctantly, we therefore suspended work on humanity in the summer of 1998, concentrating instead on other initiatives, such as the challenge of building this web site, launched in 1994.

Back issues requests:

We no longer have copies available of our preview or our award-winning premier issue. However, you still can purchase the second issue, for $10. Please contact us at: peace@humanity.org