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Extraordinary Evil
From best-selling author Barbara Coloroso comes a timely and essential book about genocide. Through an examination of three clearly defined genocides — the Armenian and Rwandan genocides, and the European Holocaust — Coloroso deconstructs the causes and consequences, both to its immediate victims and to the fabric of the world at large, and proposes the conditions that must exist in order to eradicate this evil from the world. Coloroso is well known for her best-selling books that explore why children bully. In Extraordinary Evil she builds upon that research to explain why the impulse to bully is mirrored by the act of genocide. By linking the psychology of the bully to the motivation that leads a community to murder, Coloroso provides devastating and vital insight into why people kill their neighbors. Based on the author's 15 years of research and extensive travel, Extraordinary Evil is an urgently needed work in an age when acts of genocide seem to occur more frequently and are in the public's consciousness more than ever before.
Hardcover
First published August 24, 2007
11 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Coloroso
19 books56 followersBarbara Coloroso is the author of the international bestseller Kids Are Worth It! and Parenting Through Crisis and is an acclaimed speaker on parenting, teaching, conflict, resolution, and grieving. Featured in Time, the New York Times, and on many radio and television shows, she lives with her husband in Littleton, Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 3, 2023
I got this book for a project in my History class. My project is based on the Tutsis in Rwanda and it gave me some good information and places to get started for my research. I had already taken genocide so I knew everything she was talking about so I was mainly trying to skim and find more in-depth details about Rwanda, but I found myself reading the entire book. I definitely think that this is a good read for anyone who wants to start looking into the three genocides she talks about and it is also a good book for finding information for research!
April 8, 2018
Started out great then kind of dropped into personal opinion/philosophical commentary. The first half talks about the UN definition of genocide and compares/contrasts the three "official" genocides of the 20th century (according to the UN definition). This is very well done and written but then her further philosophical analysis is not backed up by any kind of study and gets tiresome very quickly.
January 24, 2017
An illuminating book that will leave a lasting impression about how some humans can pile such misery on others and then deny doing it. The concepts of bystanders and their impacts cannot be underestimated.
January 17, 2011
This short history of three major genocides in history along with her analysis on bullying, makes for a very tough but deeply moving book that everyone should read.
January 8, 2013
Wow, a must read. We are all part of the Never Again. It's encouraging me to read up on Darfur.
January 19, 2014
Intense. Love how this is a natural follow up to her Bullying book. The links are well laid out. "History doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes". (David Kay).
August 6, 2018
History Does Not Repeat Itself - It Rhymes
It's a good book as a starting point and I'd have no problem recommending this to child as young as 11 or 12 or to parents of those even younger. Historically the reach is quite broad. Her focus is on bullying activity as a necessary precursor to especially as much of the books shows how childhood and teen relationships reflect what is going on in the corresponding adult society. It strikes a balance. It does not drill one in graphic horror nor detailed political discussion. Yet it does not shy away from issues such as rape, child soldiers and living with the aftermath. The language is clear and the material gives a well organized overview of what is indeed a difficult subject.
Her thesis is that all genocides are similar in that they are the last worst outcome of a process of delegitimization starting not with violence but through words. We see evidence of this in the relationships between children. "If you have 10 cockroaches (cockroach being a well known derogatory term given by Tutsis by Hutus) in your town and you kill four of them, how many do you have left to kill?" was a math problem given to Rwandan school children in the 1960s. Where mass murder becomes imagined as desired it in turn becomes possible. "If 3 Jews robbed a bank and each got a part of the loot proportionate to their ages...." was a math problem given to German students in 1933. The mathematics of dehumanization becomes the calculus of destruction.
It is Coloroso's understanding of bullying that forms the central core of her book. Genocide is not just the purvey of politicians and armies. Coloroso shows that co-option of the general population is required as well. A bully while being an instigator requires not only henchmen but a hierarchy of active and passive supporters. Additionally they require an active regime to demonizes the target thus loosing moral inhibitions to attack, dissuade witnesses from seeing or believing the obvious and discourage others from acting in their defense.
Coloroso is a former nun and a forceful speaker on parenting and children's issues. I've heard her speak about bullying programs at my children's school. My own copy of this book was obtained at the book launch in 2007. Members of the Armenian community were there too, and I made a commitment at the time to find out more about what happened to them at that time.. (You will see some of that in my upcoming reviews.).
Well worth reading.
It's a good book as a starting point and I'd have no problem recommending this to child as young as 11 or 12 or to parents of those even younger. Historically the reach is quite broad. Her focus is on bullying activity as a necessary precursor to especially as much of the books shows how childhood and teen relationships reflect what is going on in the corresponding adult society. It strikes a balance. It does not drill one in graphic horror nor detailed political discussion. Yet it does not shy away from issues such as rape, child soldiers and living with the aftermath. The language is clear and the material gives a well organized overview of what is indeed a difficult subject.
Her thesis is that all genocides are similar in that they are the last worst outcome of a process of delegitimization starting not with violence but through words. We see evidence of this in the relationships between children. "If you have 10 cockroaches (cockroach being a well known derogatory term given by Tutsis by Hutus) in your town and you kill four of them, how many do you have left to kill?" was a math problem given to Rwandan school children in the 1960s. Where mass murder becomes imagined as desired it in turn becomes possible. "If 3 Jews robbed a bank and each got a part of the loot proportionate to their ages...." was a math problem given to German students in 1933. The mathematics of dehumanization becomes the calculus of destruction.
It is Coloroso's understanding of bullying that forms the central core of her book. Genocide is not just the purvey of politicians and armies. Coloroso shows that co-option of the general population is required as well. A bully while being an instigator requires not only henchmen but a hierarchy of active and passive supporters. Additionally they require an active regime to demonizes the target thus loosing moral inhibitions to attack, dissuade witnesses from seeing or believing the obvious and discourage others from acting in their defense.
Coloroso is a former nun and a forceful speaker on parenting and children's issues. I've heard her speak about bullying programs at my children's school. My own copy of this book was obtained at the book launch in 2007. Members of the Armenian community were there too, and I made a commitment at the time to find out more about what happened to them at that time.. (You will see some of that in my upcoming reviews.).
Well worth reading.
October 6, 2018
Scarily relevant to our current times. The way that genocides begin is by people dehumanizing one another, making scapegoats, and opening the door to tribal hatred. I was hoping for some insight into how to prevent this from happening again ... Not much help on that front.
March 19, 2020
The book was impressive in the sense that besides narrating the ordeals of genocide, it explained the principles of genocide and how it comes about. It illustrates how genocide can come about from a simple idea.
July 11, 2012
I was disappointed with this one. The book does have some interesting anecdotes, but I was very frustrated with all the quotes from other people that were used (a few seemed out of context) to make her point. Even if I disagreed with some of the author's theories, I would have preferred if they had been fleshed out using her own words. I got the impression that the author didn't really know much about the topic herself.
July 26, 2011
Somewhat disappointing considering the buzz I was hearing from others. Discussion of motivation is only surface level and seems the topic was too large for her expertise. Far too many subtitles, headings, and block quotes giving the book a scattered read.
Want to read
September 5, 2007(APA pick-up) yaaay, genocide!
April 15, 2010
Wow...very thought provoking and disturbing.
March 3, 2012
Not bad, but more about bullying than one would expect.
April 12, 2017
It's a good book to understand a little history of genocide. Makes one uncomfortable at the fact that this actually happened. And the thought that it could happen again.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews