History is teeming with cases of individual people who have seized power by force, and by eliminating all potential rivals. The author uses the example of the 1629 Batavia shipwreck off the coast of Australia. While on board, an apothecary named Jeronimus Cornelisz was planning a mutiny, along with other crew members, but their plan failed when the Batavia was split in two: many men died, while others escaped in lifeboats with the captain. Cornelisz saved himself and washed up on an island with several other survivors. Far from civilization, and in a hostile and unfamiliar environment, they quickly rebuilt the hierarchical model of command that had prevailed on the ship. Cornelisz got rid of everyone who might have caused him problems, and assumed full authority. Before long, he no longer even bothered to cover up the violence and murders he was committing, and by the time the captain of the Batavia managed to reach them with a rescue mission, Cornelisz had killed more than a hundred people, for which he was sentenced to death.
Klass reminds us, however, that there are many similar stories, which have a very different ending. Elsewhere on the Australian coast, in 1965, several young men lost control of their small boat in a storm. They managed to reach a rocky islet, on which many birds were nesting, so they worked together to catch them, and use them for the nutrition they needed to survive. They also organised themselves to build shelters and even took care of one of their shipmates, who had been injured: when a fisherman happened to approach the islet, he noticed them and radioed for help.
So, how is it possible that these two stories had such different endings? Klaas's studies aim to answer a series of questions concerning power, the ways in which people achieve and maintain it, and the changes it triggers within each of us.