Sapiens author said he had authorised revisions to all his books in order to reach ‘diverse audiences around the world’

Sapiens author Yuval Noah Harari has acknowledged that he authorised replacing criticism of Vladimir Putin with criticism of Donald Trump in the Russian edition of his bestseller, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, saying that Russian censors would not have allowed him to publish the original text.

Earlier this week, Newsweek reported that the Russian translation of 21 Lessons blunted Harari’s criticism of Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.