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Evil
Paperback
Published January 1, 1988
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March 1, 2021
This was a mixed bag.
First of all, this was written in 1988, so it's not necessarily up to date with the information it provides. On that front, the most obvious things missing are some of the very big events that have happened since, and would be great topics to talk about surrounding the concept of evil - 9/11, James Bulger's murder, Saddam Hussein, the murder of Holly & Jessica etc - I also clocked that they used the term 'multiple murderer' rather than 'serial killer', which definitely shows the age.
The beginning and end of this book was extremely boring, going waaay too in depth on certain aspects meant the bits that were actually interesting got a page or two. This starts with discussions about old poetry that talked about evil. They put whole pages of text in here, then line by line dissected what each bit meant or what they perceived it to mean - it just became tedious and boring (which is why it took me so long to read the book!) In the same vein, the ending spend page after page after page talking about Christianity - of course there is definitely room and need for that in a book talking about the concept of evil - but they would talk about Hinduism for maybe a page, then go into Christianity for 10 pages. Again, it just went too in depth with writings, poems, stories etc then going over what it meant and why it was relevant. I also thought it was almost laughable that they tried to portray Christianity as a pacifist religion, as if most of the wars that have happened aren't at least somewhat based around this religion. They even mentioned Christianity not being part of politics! I can't imagine that has only become a thing in the last 30 years!
Moving on, the middle of the book was actually pretty interesting and engaging. From talking about individual murderers, to Nazi Germany and diffusion of responsibility. The 'I was just dong what I was told' mentality that had soldiers massacre a whole village of innocent people in Vietnam, to the 'lesser of two evils' decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan to stop a war before it started, 'saving millions of lives' in the process.
Within these sections there were some really poignant references, especially when it came to people talking of their own experiences during these events. For example, one soldier talking of how he was saving civilians who had been shot in Vietnam, not realising that the rest of his allies were purposefully massacring them.
- 'No-one seemed to know, so we started marking people with smoke and trying to get them medical assistance. But the ground forces, instead of bringing medical assistance, finished these people off, killed the people we were trying to help' -
There was also a short but very harrowing snippet from the Nuremberg trials, recounted by a Polish guard, which I'll cut down a bit here with ellipses .
- 'WITNESS: Women carrying children were sent with them to the crematorium. Children were of no labour value, so they were killed...It was simpler to kill the mothers too, and keep things quiet and smooth...Separating meant that more children could be packed in separately, or they could be thrown in over the heads of adults once the chambers were packed...orders were issued that children were to be thrown straight into the crematorium furnaces, or into a pit without being gassed first.
PROSECUTOR: ...Did they throw them into the fire alive, or did they kill them first?
WITNESS: They threw them in alive. Their screams could be heard from the camp...
PROSECUTOR: Why did they do this?
WITNESS: ...We don't know whether they wanted to economize on gas, or if it was because there was not enough room in the gas chambers'
I found all the parts about actual people, doing actual things that could be considered evil far more engaging than the ramblings of theology and the essay-like picking apart of poems from the 1600's. It's unfortunate that the book opened and closed with such draining, uninteresting sections.
First of all, this was written in 1988, so it's not necessarily up to date with the information it provides. On that front, the most obvious things missing are some of the very big events that have happened since, and would be great topics to talk about surrounding the concept of evil - 9/11, James Bulger's murder, Saddam Hussein, the murder of Holly & Jessica etc - I also clocked that they used the term 'multiple murderer' rather than 'serial killer', which definitely shows the age.
The beginning and end of this book was extremely boring, going waaay too in depth on certain aspects meant the bits that were actually interesting got a page or two. This starts with discussions about old poetry that talked about evil. They put whole pages of text in here, then line by line dissected what each bit meant or what they perceived it to mean - it just became tedious and boring (which is why it took me so long to read the book!) In the same vein, the ending spend page after page after page talking about Christianity - of course there is definitely room and need for that in a book talking about the concept of evil - but they would talk about Hinduism for maybe a page, then go into Christianity for 10 pages. Again, it just went too in depth with writings, poems, stories etc then going over what it meant and why it was relevant. I also thought it was almost laughable that they tried to portray Christianity as a pacifist religion, as if most of the wars that have happened aren't at least somewhat based around this religion. They even mentioned Christianity not being part of politics! I can't imagine that has only become a thing in the last 30 years!
Moving on, the middle of the book was actually pretty interesting and engaging. From talking about individual murderers, to Nazi Germany and diffusion of responsibility. The 'I was just dong what I was told' mentality that had soldiers massacre a whole village of innocent people in Vietnam, to the 'lesser of two evils' decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan to stop a war before it started, 'saving millions of lives' in the process.
Within these sections there were some really poignant references, especially when it came to people talking of their own experiences during these events. For example, one soldier talking of how he was saving civilians who had been shot in Vietnam, not realising that the rest of his allies were purposefully massacring them.
- 'No-one seemed to know, so we started marking people with smoke and trying to get them medical assistance. But the ground forces, instead of bringing medical assistance, finished these people off, killed the people we were trying to help' -
There was also a short but very harrowing snippet from the Nuremberg trials, recounted by a Polish guard, which I'll cut down a bit here with ellipses .
- 'WITNESS: Women carrying children were sent with them to the crematorium. Children were of no labour value, so they were killed...It was simpler to kill the mothers too, and keep things quiet and smooth...Separating meant that more children could be packed in separately, or they could be thrown in over the heads of adults once the chambers were packed...orders were issued that children were to be thrown straight into the crematorium furnaces, or into a pit without being gassed first.
PROSECUTOR: ...Did they throw them into the fire alive, or did they kill them first?
WITNESS: They threw them in alive. Their screams could be heard from the camp...
PROSECUTOR: Why did they do this?
WITNESS: ...We don't know whether they wanted to economize on gas, or if it was because there was not enough room in the gas chambers'
I found all the parts about actual people, doing actual things that could be considered evil far more engaging than the ramblings of theology and the essay-like picking apart of poems from the 1600's. It's unfortunate that the book opened and closed with such draining, uninteresting sections.
Displaying 1 of 1 review