Synopses & Reviews
From award-winning essayist Lance Morrow, a provocative meditation on the nature of evil, and a daring analysis of its role in the modern world.
Long couched only in theological terms, and popularly personified by the despots of history, the nature of evil has resisted explanation. In this singular survey of this mysterious but all too often palpable force, veteran Time magazine writer Lance Morrow examines the unmistakable ways evil influences our global culture and how that global culture in turn has magnified evil's menace. Its dramatic reemergence in the national consciousness against a backdrop of high-tech, sensationalized violence makes his updated understanding both timely and absolutely necessary.
Drawing on examples both obscure and splashed across the headlines, Morrow seeks to understand how evil works, and what purpose, if any, it serves. From the heartrending to the harrowing, from quiet lies to catastrophic acts, his stories are drawn from over thirty years of experience as a revered journalist and essayist. The result is a brilliant synthesis of a lifetime of observation that elegantly illuminates a chronically elusive but fascinating subject.
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"[C]ompelling....Morrow's writing is elegant and conversational, like talking to a thoughtful, learned friend as he discusses how concepts of evil have evolved through history, politics, literature, and mundane daily life." Vanessa Bush, Booklist (Starred Review)
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"One can extract from this book a reasonably favorable opinion of Morrow's thoughtfulness and personal ethics....Anybody who wants to keep up on impassioned screeds in pop ethics will find something to like here..." Publishers Weekly
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"In all this, the author fails to provide a specific mailing address for evil, whose image remains a bit fuzzy. Even so, this is a good and readable selection from its résumé." Kirkus Reviews
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"Morrow is a master of the think piece, and his 34 chapters, some only a few pages long, adhere to that journalistic model....Morrow is never less than engaging..." David Heim, The Washington Post Book World
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"Evil is a most elusive subject, and Morrow knows better than to take it head-on. He is a well-established writer for Time, and this book has something of that magazine's breezy eclecticism." James Carroll, The New York Times Book Review
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"As one would expect from a writer with the eminence and experience of Lance Morrow, this meditation is compassionate, wise and invaluable. It is also highly readable and, dare one say of so unpalatable a topic, utterly compelling I read it in a single sitting." Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa
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"Evil is a moral detective story in which Lance Morrow pursues history's ghostly criminal, with appropriate wonder, stylish calm, even with sympathy but not pity. The pursuit is personal and global; at once philosophical and relentless. The judgement is definite: sin is sin. As to the question, 'Does evil exist?' Morrow leaves not the shadow of a doubt." Roger Rosenblatt
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"The principal reason to read this book is that Lance Morrow wrote it. His working intelligence is everywhere evident, and of course he is an essayist without peer." William F. Buckley, Jr.
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"Lance Morrow is a superb essayist. In this book he gives us a series of reports and reflections on one of the most important, difficult subjects the nature of evil. Erudite yet utterly accessible, Morrow deepens our understanding of something that is, in so many ways, incomprehensible." Fareed Zakaria, author of The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad
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"The frequency with which the word 'evil' is batted about these days warrants a thoughtful analysis of what it is and is not, and Lance Morrow, an essayist without peer, is just the one to give some moral clarity to this much abused term. This is a welcome provocative and refreshing effort." Peter J. Gomes, author of The Good Book and Strength for the Journey
Synopsis
From award-winning essayist Lance Morrow, a provocative meditation on the nature of evil, and a daring analysis of its role in the modern world.
About the Author
Lance Morrow joined Time in 1965 and is still on staff as a regular essayist and reviewer. He has more than 150 cover stories to his credit, and has also contributed to Harper's, Civilization, Smithsonian, and The Condé Nast Traveler. He is the author of several books, including Fishing in the Tiber; America: A Rediscovery; and The Chief. He is a university professor at Boston University, where he teaches American presidential history and essay writing. He lives in Chatham, New York.
Table of Contents
The globalization of evil -- Humor's cousin -- A current through the world -- Why do they do it? -- The hermit's tale -- A catastrophic education -- The axis of wrong -- Sarajevo : lex talionis -- The rifleman's dilemma -- Jean Valjean at Wendy's -- Visigoths in the brain -- The axe in space -- What have children to do with it? -- The triumph of Goneril and Regan -- Tu quoque -- The rattlesnake in the mailbox -- Permissible evil -- Taking responsibility for the regime -- Office malignities -- The consolations of literature -- Us and them -- The face's secrects -- Club med for monsters -- Sade, Cobain, and the pleasures of evil -- Gormets and monkey brains -- The limits of silence -- The argument from design -- It is always a story -- The lessons of Mein Kampf -- What Nachtwey sees -- The quest for purity -- The foses lose heart -- Czerniakow's choice -- Hope.