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Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty Paperback – March 19, 1999

by Roy F. Baumeister Ph.D. (Author), Aaron Beck (Foreword)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 221 ratings
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Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior?

Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Roy F. Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cycles of revenge so often escalate?

Baumeister casts new light on these issues as he examines the gap between the victim's viewpoint and that of the perpetrator, and also the roots of evil behavior, from egotism and revenge to idealism and sadism. A fascinating study of one of humankind's oldest problems, Evil has profound implications for the way we conduct our lives and govern our society.

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  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    March 19, 1999
  4. Dimensions
    6.05 x 1.2 x 8.95 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0805071652
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0805071658
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roy F. Baumeister, Ph.D., holds the E. B. Smith Professorship in Liberal Arts at Case Western Reserve University. Since receiving his doctorate in social psychology from Princeton University, he has received numerous fellowships and awards. He has published nearly 150 scientific works and is cited in numerous sources in the popular media. Baumeister has authored or co-authored nine other books, including Losing Control: How and Why Self-Regulation Fails and Meanings of Life. He lives on the shores of the Great Lakes.

Dr. Aaron T. Beck, M.D., the Father of Cognitive Therapy, is University Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, and President of The Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy. He is the author and co-author of twelve books and over 350 articles and chapters.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Holt Paperbacks (March 19, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805071652
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805071658
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.11 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.05 x 1.2 x 8.95 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 221 ratings

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Roy F. Baumeister

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
221 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

V. Hutson
5.0 out of 5 stars This May Be the Most Powerful Book I Have Every Read
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024
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If you want to know why there is so much evil in the world, get this book. It is one of the best books I have read in my life. It answers all of the questions I have had about why people commit such evil acts and why others support it.

It covers evil done by individuals as well as evil done by political groups.
One person found this helpful
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Simply Curious
5.0 out of 5 stars A Path from True Evil to Lasting Peace
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2006
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This remarkable book begins to give us a firm basis for hope, because it provides a deep and accurate understanding of evil. This well researched and well written book examines and discredits the "myth of pure evil", and instead rigorously examines the point of view of real perpetrators to understand the true causes of evil.

After adopting the simple definition of "intentional harm to other people", the author identifies the four roots of evil as greed, egotism, idealism, and sadism, and explores each of these in depth. He dispels the popular misunderstanding that low self-esteem is a major contributor to violent behavior. Instead his careful analysis establishes that people who have high self-esteem, but lack a firm basis for that belief, are especially prone to be violent. He describes how an ordinary person crosses the line into evil, how evil spreads, and how perpetrators deal with guilt. After examining the provocative question of "why is there not more evil" he describes the central role of self-control in preventing evil. He also describes how typical bystanders often unwittingly contribute to evil acts.

Central to the analysis is the principle he calls the "magnitude gap." This describes the discrepancy between the importance of an evil act to the perpetrator and the victim. This magnitude gap accounts for the rapid escalation of violence that is so typical in retaliation. The response chosen to avenge each provocation is amplified at each round to account for the victim's point of view.

Because lasting peace will come only from a profound understanding of violence, the analysis and insight this book provides is an important contribution toward a more peaceful world.
29 people found this helpful
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George T Brunelle
5.0 out of 5 stars Solves Many of the Mysteries of Evil
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2001
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This is the book for anyone who has ever been the victim of a crime and wishes to understand how or why it happened, or whose profession requires frequent contact with perpetrators of evil and who needs to understand the thinking process of such people. I have read several other books on the subject, mostly approaching it from the perspectives of literature, religion or mythology, but these works tend to provide unsatisfying answers to the basic questions of what inspires evil and what causes it to spread. Dr. Baumeister's work answers both of these questions convincingly, along with many others, such as why evil people almost never consider themselves to be evil; why there is not more evil in the world, considering how often evil goes unpunished; why revenge is usually disproportionate to the initial offense and why it settles nothing and often inspires further and greater evil; why drugs and alcohol so often accompany evil and whether they are actually a cause of evil; whether low self-esteem or high self-esteem is more conducive to evil, and the role which self-esteem, and challenges to self-esteem, play in the initiation of evil; and how the perpetrators of evil manage to live with themselves. This is not only the best book I have ever read on the subject; it is the only one I have read which approaches the problem from the standpoint of empirical research rather than mere ideology. It is also extremely well written, accessible to the general reader and generously illustrated with examples from history and current events.
83 people found this helpful
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Gary Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars Evil Is as Evil Does: She Just Had Her Own Agenda
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2009
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"Was she evil?"

A friend posed that question to me a few years ago in seeking my opinion of an old lover convicted of trying to murder me in 1980 and implicated in at least two other Texas homicides over the years. When I realized I lacked a quick response--and did not even know if I believed in a concept of pure evil--I decided to get educated. So I bought a copy of Roy Baumeister's "Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty" and returned to school.

Despite some of the criticisms included from other reviewers ("shallow" for example), I must report I found Baumeister's pop psychology overview on evil to be an enlightening and readable treatment of both the philosophical and psychological aspects of that subject for my needs. But I must confess, Baumeister's conclusions align with my own, so in some respects he was preaching to the choir when he wrote that "evil exists primarily in the eye of the beholder, especially in the eye of the victim."

Armed with Baumeister's anecdotes and analysis, I returned to my friend with an answer. And I cited conclusions from Baumeister's book when writing my December 2008 true crime memoir of my own experience, " Luggage By Kroger: A True Crime Memoir ."

She was not evil. She just had her own agenda.
7 people found this helpful
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Philip Kahn
5.0 out of 5 stars A tour de force that connects evil to loss of self control
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2017
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This book is a tour de force. I will address the comments by the few reviewers that gave low ratings that others thought were helpful.

Baumeister is a very well known psychology academic. He pioneered a whole area of psychology focussed on willpower and self control. He has a NY Times bestseller entitled Willpower. Self control is a primary predictor of success, health, happiness, incarceration, effectiveness, etc.

This book on evil is built on Baumeister’s work on self control. Those that claim the book makes unsubstantiated claims failed to look at the bibliography and source material this foremost academic psychologist brings to bear on the subject of evil. Tje idea that evil is caused by a failure of self control is nuanced, actionable, and supported widely in studies on the subject (eg, such as the Stanford Prison study).

I have had contact with evil in my life, and there is a scale as discussed in the book. The book is an effective look into the causes of evil actors in our world. If we betternunderstood these ideas, perhaps we could do a better job at identifying them to stop some of their harm. For example, the root causes of most gun violence in the US is explained in this book.
32 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Daniel Laureys
5.0 out of 5 stars Become more moderate in your opinions.
Reviewed in Germany on December 12, 2021
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It’s a must read for everyone who wants to be more moderate in his opinion of what happens around him.
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Robert McFadden
5.0 out of 5 stars insightful and sensitive examination of a concept that we - particularly as societies - all too easily gloss over in justification of our own harmful acts
Reviewed in Canada on November 19, 2017
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A thorough, insightful and sensitive examination of a concept that we - particularly as societies - all too easily gloss over in justification of our own harmful acts. This book provides a profound reconsideration of moral judgment and its devastating aftermath.
2 people found this helpful
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RAS
5.0 out of 5 stars Une synthèse magistrale
Reviewed in France on April 4, 2014
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Essayer de comprendre le mal, la violence ou la cruauté est une entreprise essentielle à laquelle Baumeister s'est attelé avec la compétence que l'on lui connait. En effet, c'est un des psychologues américains les plus créatifs et les plus productifs. Il s'attaque pour commencer à ce mythe du mal absolu, tel qu'il est véhiculé par la presse, le cinéma et le sens commun que nous partageons d'autant plus facilement qu'il ne nécessite aucune réflexion. On a spontanément tendance à croire que des actes qui nous choquent sont motivés par des intentions malveillantes, voire démoniaques. Cette vue est un obstacle majeur à l'étude des crimes, des massacres et des génocides. Baumeister passe ensuite en revue les mécanismes qui jouent vraiment, en en montrant la logique. Il analyse les causes de la violence et de la cruauté, qu'il a classées en trois catégories: recherche du gain matériel; vengeance qui résulte d'une atteinte à l'estime de soi; idéalisme ou recherche d'un état utopique. Mais évidemment, comprendre n'est pas excuser, tolérer ou soutenir. A lire, c'est un livre qui vous marquera. Il est écrit dans un langage clair, précis et accessible et peut intéresser aussi bien les chercheurs que le grand public.
5 people found this helpful
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Anthony Miniphy
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2020
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excellent
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Rosa Ventura
4.0 out of 5 stars worth the time
Reviewed in Canada on October 30, 2019
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great book and important insights
2 people found this helpful
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