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Confronting Series #2
Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst
Confronting Evil is not for the timid.
The concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.
This book will recount the deeds of the worst people in Genghis Khan. Caligula. Henry VIII. The collective evil of the slave traders. Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Putin. The Mexican drug cartels. Their stories starkly display how some of the worst events in history unfolded.
Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil, a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer. We avoid the decision. We look away. It's easier.
Prepare yourself to read the consequences of that inaction. As John Stuart Mill said in his inaugural address to the University of St. Andrews in 1867: “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
The concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.
This book will recount the deeds of the worst people in Genghis Khan. Caligula. Henry VIII. The collective evil of the slave traders. Stalin. Hitler. Mao. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Putin. The Mexican drug cartels. Their stories starkly display how some of the worst events in history unfolded.
Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil, a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer. We avoid the decision. We look away. It's easier.
Prepare yourself to read the consequences of that inaction. As John Stuart Mill said in his inaugural address to the University of St. Andrews in 1867: “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
Audio CD
Published September 9, 2025
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About the author
Bill O'Reilly
58 books3,413 followersBill O'Reilly's success in broadcasting and publishing is unmatched. The iconic anchor of The O'Reilly Factor led the program to the status of the highest rated cable news broadcast in the nation for sixteen consecutive years. His website BillOReilly.com is followed by millions all over the world.
In addition, he has authored an astonishing 12 number one ranked non-fiction books including the historical "Killing" series. Mr. O'Reilly currently has 17 million books in print.
Bill O'Reilly has been a broadcaster for 42 years. He has been awarded three Emmys and a number of other journalism accolades. He was a national correspondent for CBS News and ABC News as well as a reporter-anchor for WCBS-TV in New York City, among other high-profile jobs.
Mr. O'Reilly received two other Emmy nominations for the movies "Killing Kennedy" and "Killing Jesus."
He holds a history degree from Marist College, a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, and another master’s degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Bill O'Reilly lives on Long Island where he was raised. His philanthropic enterprises have raised tens of millions for people in need and wounded American veterans.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/billor...
In addition, he has authored an astonishing 12 number one ranked non-fiction books including the historical "Killing" series. Mr. O'Reilly currently has 17 million books in print.
Bill O'Reilly has been a broadcaster for 42 years. He has been awarded three Emmys and a number of other journalism accolades. He was a national correspondent for CBS News and ABC News as well as a reporter-anchor for WCBS-TV in New York City, among other high-profile jobs.
Mr. O'Reilly received two other Emmy nominations for the movies "Killing Kennedy" and "Killing Jesus."
He holds a history degree from Marist College, a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, and another master’s degree from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Bill O'Reilly lives on Long Island where he was raised. His philanthropic enterprises have raised tens of millions for people in need and wounded American veterans.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/billor...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
August 21, 2025
Special thanks to #Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.
Bill O’Reilly’s Confronting Evil delivers exactly what its title promises—a bold, uncompromising examination of humanity’s darkest moments and the individuals who fought against them. While some critics dismiss it as oversimplified or ideologically rigid, the book’s strength lies in its accessible storytelling and moral urgency.
Refuting the Criticisms
“One man’s morality = the book’s framework”
Far from being just O’Reilly’s personal take, the book draws on a wide range of historical sources to ground its narrative. Yes, O’Reilly’s voice is strong, but the throughline of moral judgment is consistent with how history has often been interpreted—through the lens of ethical choices and consequences. His clarity makes history engaging for readers who may otherwise find it distant or abstract.
“No nuance. Complex figures flattened.”
While O’Reilly emphasizes stark moral contrasts, this is not the same as caricature. Figures like Hitler, Stalin, and bin Laden are presented in the context of their undeniable atrocities. At the same time, O’Reilly acknowledges the flaws of leaders on the “good” side, reminding readers that moral leadership is never perfect but can still be decisive in shaping history.
“Selective storytelling and Judeo-Christian framing.”
Every historian selects and frames their material. O’Reilly’s Judeo-Christian perspective is not hidden—it’s openly declared. This framing gives coherence to his argument and reflects a worldview that has influenced Western civilization for centuries. Readers may not agree with every interpretation, but the framing offers a moral compass rather than propaganda.
“It’s giving high school debate club.”
On the contrary, the narrative structure, brisk pacing, and forceful tone are precisely what make this book work. Rather than feeling amateur, the style resembles a dynamic lecture—one that communicates urgency and passion to a wide audience.
“The tone feels smug, even about atrocities.”
O’Reilly’s tone is not smug so much as confident. He doesn’t equivocate when it comes to condemning evil, and that firmness may read as arrogance to some. But given the subject matter—genocide, mass murder, terrorism—moral hesitation would be out of place.
Final Verdict
Confronting Evil may not satisfy academic purists looking for exhaustive nuance, but it isn’t trying to. Instead, it’s a compelling, clear-cut narrative that dramatizes the eternal struggle between good and evil. For readers who want moral clarity in their history, O’Reilly delivers with conviction.
Bill O’Reilly’s Confronting Evil delivers exactly what its title promises—a bold, uncompromising examination of humanity’s darkest moments and the individuals who fought against them. While some critics dismiss it as oversimplified or ideologically rigid, the book’s strength lies in its accessible storytelling and moral urgency.
Refuting the Criticisms
“One man’s morality = the book’s framework”
Far from being just O’Reilly’s personal take, the book draws on a wide range of historical sources to ground its narrative. Yes, O’Reilly’s voice is strong, but the throughline of moral judgment is consistent with how history has often been interpreted—through the lens of ethical choices and consequences. His clarity makes history engaging for readers who may otherwise find it distant or abstract.
“No nuance. Complex figures flattened.”
While O’Reilly emphasizes stark moral contrasts, this is not the same as caricature. Figures like Hitler, Stalin, and bin Laden are presented in the context of their undeniable atrocities. At the same time, O’Reilly acknowledges the flaws of leaders on the “good” side, reminding readers that moral leadership is never perfect but can still be decisive in shaping history.
“Selective storytelling and Judeo-Christian framing.”
Every historian selects and frames their material. O’Reilly’s Judeo-Christian perspective is not hidden—it’s openly declared. This framing gives coherence to his argument and reflects a worldview that has influenced Western civilization for centuries. Readers may not agree with every interpretation, but the framing offers a moral compass rather than propaganda.
“It’s giving high school debate club.”
On the contrary, the narrative structure, brisk pacing, and forceful tone are precisely what make this book work. Rather than feeling amateur, the style resembles a dynamic lecture—one that communicates urgency and passion to a wide audience.
“The tone feels smug, even about atrocities.”
O’Reilly’s tone is not smug so much as confident. He doesn’t equivocate when it comes to condemning evil, and that firmness may read as arrogance to some. But given the subject matter—genocide, mass murder, terrorism—moral hesitation would be out of place.
Final Verdict
Confronting Evil may not satisfy academic purists looking for exhaustive nuance, but it isn’t trying to. Instead, it’s a compelling, clear-cut narrative that dramatizes the eternal struggle between good and evil. For readers who want moral clarity in their history, O’Reilly delivers with conviction.
September 29, 2025
I usually like his books but this one got political. He mentioned Nazi rhetoric in the trump election that was not related to the content other than to defend Trump.
The end of the book where he gives his own opinion in what makes people evil… made me cringe. One factor he mentions is the decline of theological belief. Hmmm… seems Ayotollah, Hitler, and “Bloody Mary were pretty sound in their theological beliefs. To say that people are evil because they lack religion is ignorant. Maybe religion is the problem. He also left out a LOT of evil doers. Where are the serial killers who rape and murder women and children? The Popes who rape little boys? The Human sex Traffickers who get arrested and mysteriously hang themself awaiting trial?
The end of the book where he gives his own opinion in what makes people evil… made me cringe. One factor he mentions is the decline of theological belief. Hmmm… seems Ayotollah, Hitler, and “Bloody Mary were pretty sound in their theological beliefs. To say that people are evil because they lack religion is ignorant. Maybe religion is the problem. He also left out a LOT of evil doers. Where are the serial killers who rape and murder women and children? The Popes who rape little boys? The Human sex Traffickers who get arrested and mysteriously hang themself awaiting trial?
September 22, 2025
the least researched history book of all time
October 28, 2025
Great book... like most of O’Reilly’s. I flew through it. The writing style is fast, engaging, and moral in tone, just like his Killing series. But I couldn’t tell if O’Reilly was trying to highlight the most evil men in history or simply present a sampling of evil across different eras, religions, and types of power. It feels like he was trying to do both and that’s where the structure begins to blur.
He leans heavily on modern figures and household names while ignoring men who were, by almost any standard, far more sadistic and depraved. Think serial killers. People who didn’t just cause death, but enjoyed it. There’s a big difference.
That’s one of the weaknesses of the book: simplification and selective framing. Because O’Reilly’s trying to cover such a huge span of history and make these broad moral claims, the details get flattened. The nuances... the gray areas of human behavior, contested motives, and the messy legacies are mostly brushed aside. It turns into a “good guy vs. bad guy” narrative, which is emotionally satisfying but not intellectually honest.
My biggest disagreement was with his assessment of Nathan Bedford Forrest.
While slavery itself is undeniably evil, and the Confederate cause was morally bankrupt, Forrest wasn’t altogether evil as a man. O’Reilly paints him with the same brush as monsters like Hitler and Caligula, and that’s just sloppy. Forrest fought brutally for an evil cause, yes... but the man also changed. Even though he was called the father of the KKK, the organization he founded wasn’t created as a racist death cult. It was initially meant to protect Southerners, especially returning Confederate soldiers and their families from Union retribution. Once it morphed into the hate-driven terror group we know today, Forrest left it and denounced it publicly. That’s not something you do if you’re the embodiment of evil. Was O’Reilly pandering? Posturing? Maybe. But Forrest didn’t belong in that company.
In sheer numbers, O’Reilly is right on Mao, Stalin, Hitler, and Genghis Khan... those four are the cornerstones of mass-scale, impersonal evil. I also liked that he included the drug cartels because they represent a different kind of darkness, greed and violence without ideology. But including figures like Putin, the Robber Barons, and the Ayatollah weakened the premise. Yes, they’re evil men in their own ways, but they’re not in the pantheon of the most evil men in the history of the world. Their inclusion felt like a reach to keep things “relevant” for modern readers.
Caligula and Henry VIII were interesting choices and new to me in this context. Both fit because they personify the corruption of absolute power, but then O’Reilly throws in the Robber Barons, and it just feels off. Ruthless businessmen don’t belong in the same chapter as genocidal tyrants. If he wanted variety, he could’ve drawn from history’s countless sadists and predators.... Ted Bundy, Bloody Mary, Gilles de Rais, and others who embodied personal evil, not systemic.
And that, to me, is the key point the book misses:
Evil isn’t measured only by how many people die. It’s measured by how and why they suffer. The intimate act of sadism... the pleasure of personally inflicting pain for gain or enjoyment. That is a deeper evil than detached political cruelty. There’s a difference between a man who signs orders that lead to death and one who personally revels in another human’s suffering.
Yes, Putin is evil for ordering torture or assassination. But he’d be far more evil if he took pleasure in doing it himself. That’s the purest form of darkness... not the bureaucrat of death, but the one who feeds on pain.
That’s what O’Reilly’s book never fully captures. Confronting Evil succeeds as moral storytelling, but not as moral philosophy. It raises big questions about good and evil but doesn’t wrestle with them deeply enough. Still, it’s a powerful and fast read—and worth finishing if you want to think about what makes evil recognizable in every age, even when it wears different faces.
On a positive note, it was a great book... like most of O’Reilly’s. I flew through it. It’s engaging, thought-provoking, and written in that straightforward, no-nonsense style that makes his books so readable. I really enjoyed it... it’s interesting, informative, and kept me hooked from start to finish. Even when I disagreed with some of his conclusions, I appreciated how he made complex history feel alive and accessible.
He leans heavily on modern figures and household names while ignoring men who were, by almost any standard, far more sadistic and depraved. Think serial killers. People who didn’t just cause death, but enjoyed it. There’s a big difference.
That’s one of the weaknesses of the book: simplification and selective framing. Because O’Reilly’s trying to cover such a huge span of history and make these broad moral claims, the details get flattened. The nuances... the gray areas of human behavior, contested motives, and the messy legacies are mostly brushed aside. It turns into a “good guy vs. bad guy” narrative, which is emotionally satisfying but not intellectually honest.
My biggest disagreement was with his assessment of Nathan Bedford Forrest.
While slavery itself is undeniably evil, and the Confederate cause was morally bankrupt, Forrest wasn’t altogether evil as a man. O’Reilly paints him with the same brush as monsters like Hitler and Caligula, and that’s just sloppy. Forrest fought brutally for an evil cause, yes... but the man also changed. Even though he was called the father of the KKK, the organization he founded wasn’t created as a racist death cult. It was initially meant to protect Southerners, especially returning Confederate soldiers and their families from Union retribution. Once it morphed into the hate-driven terror group we know today, Forrest left it and denounced it publicly. That’s not something you do if you’re the embodiment of evil. Was O’Reilly pandering? Posturing? Maybe. But Forrest didn’t belong in that company.
In sheer numbers, O’Reilly is right on Mao, Stalin, Hitler, and Genghis Khan... those four are the cornerstones of mass-scale, impersonal evil. I also liked that he included the drug cartels because they represent a different kind of darkness, greed and violence without ideology. But including figures like Putin, the Robber Barons, and the Ayatollah weakened the premise. Yes, they’re evil men in their own ways, but they’re not in the pantheon of the most evil men in the history of the world. Their inclusion felt like a reach to keep things “relevant” for modern readers.
Caligula and Henry VIII were interesting choices and new to me in this context. Both fit because they personify the corruption of absolute power, but then O’Reilly throws in the Robber Barons, and it just feels off. Ruthless businessmen don’t belong in the same chapter as genocidal tyrants. If he wanted variety, he could’ve drawn from history’s countless sadists and predators.... Ted Bundy, Bloody Mary, Gilles de Rais, and others who embodied personal evil, not systemic.
And that, to me, is the key point the book misses:
Evil isn’t measured only by how many people die. It’s measured by how and why they suffer. The intimate act of sadism... the pleasure of personally inflicting pain for gain or enjoyment. That is a deeper evil than detached political cruelty. There’s a difference between a man who signs orders that lead to death and one who personally revels in another human’s suffering.
Yes, Putin is evil for ordering torture or assassination. But he’d be far more evil if he took pleasure in doing it himself. That’s the purest form of darkness... not the bureaucrat of death, but the one who feeds on pain.
That’s what O’Reilly’s book never fully captures. Confronting Evil succeeds as moral storytelling, but not as moral philosophy. It raises big questions about good and evil but doesn’t wrestle with them deeply enough. Still, it’s a powerful and fast read—and worth finishing if you want to think about what makes evil recognizable in every age, even when it wears different faces.
On a positive note, it was a great book... like most of O’Reilly’s. I flew through it. It’s engaging, thought-provoking, and written in that straightforward, no-nonsense style that makes his books so readable. I really enjoyed it... it’s interesting, informative, and kept me hooked from start to finish. Even when I disagreed with some of his conclusions, I appreciated how he made complex history feel alive and accessible.
September 5, 2025
Like most of O’Reilly’s books, “Confronting Evil” is very engaging. I usually listen to his books via audiobook because he always has good readers (and sometimes does it himself), but reading is just as engaging. This book’s feel is different than his Killing series. It is chapter after chapter of evil people with the facts of their evilness on full display. There is little analysis except to prove the point that the person is evil and how they have or have not been held to account. Yet the simple-ness of that makes the book powerful. It definitely shows that these characters are truly evil.
The motivation for the book is in the afterward. It is to show that there really is evil, even if people don’t want to admit it. In addition, America has often been involved in eradicating evils. O’Reilly is advocating for confronting evils instead of trying to manipulate, downgrade, or ignore the power of these evils. Should you want to look further, he has a very organized Notes and Research section at the end of the book.
I recommend O’Reilly’s book and definitely think it’s worth your time to read.
The motivation for the book is in the afterward. It is to show that there really is evil, even if people don’t want to admit it. In addition, America has often been involved in eradicating evils. O’Reilly is advocating for confronting evils instead of trying to manipulate, downgrade, or ignore the power of these evils. Should you want to look further, he has a very organized Notes and Research section at the end of the book.
I recommend O’Reilly’s book and definitely think it’s worth your time to read.
September 17, 2025
Most of it was really interesting. I’m a big fan of Bill O’Reilly despite our different political views. For me, this one got a little too political towards the end, without adding anything valuable to the narrative.
September 4, 2025
This review is for the audio edition of this book.
This is the second book in the "Confronting" series by Bill O'Reilly. The first book was on the U. S. Presidents. This one is a 180 turn with the focus on evil and those who have pushed an evil agenda on others throughout history.
In most chapters the focus is on an individual who has committed evil acts: think Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Putin, Mao., and the Ayatollah Khomeni. There are other chapters on evil groups such as the slave traders and drug cartels.
The authors provide a brief biography of each individual or entity, giving just enough historical details to help provide a context. The chapters describe violence and torture inflicted on innocent victims.
O'Reilly has been criticized for his Judeo-Christian "sermonizing" in this book by some reviewers. That really doesn't bother me as much as the narrow definition of "evil." There is lots of evil in the world that occur every day. Human trafficking, racial and ethnic violence, bullying via social media, etc. Certainly I don't expect the author to address every form of evil, but a simple acknowledgement that these are the "worst practices" would perhaps ease some of the criticisms.
The narrator, Robert Petkoff does an excellent job as always with the interpretation of the authors words.
I want to thank the authors, Macmillan Audio, and narrator Petkoff for the opportunity to listen to an early release of this book in exchange for an objective review.
I give Confronting Evil 4 out of 5 stars.
This is the second book in the "Confronting" series by Bill O'Reilly. The first book was on the U. S. Presidents. This one is a 180 turn with the focus on evil and those who have pushed an evil agenda on others throughout history.
In most chapters the focus is on an individual who has committed evil acts: think Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Putin, Mao., and the Ayatollah Khomeni. There are other chapters on evil groups such as the slave traders and drug cartels.
The authors provide a brief biography of each individual or entity, giving just enough historical details to help provide a context. The chapters describe violence and torture inflicted on innocent victims.
O'Reilly has been criticized for his Judeo-Christian "sermonizing" in this book by some reviewers. That really doesn't bother me as much as the narrow definition of "evil." There is lots of evil in the world that occur every day. Human trafficking, racial and ethnic violence, bullying via social media, etc. Certainly I don't expect the author to address every form of evil, but a simple acknowledgement that these are the "worst practices" would perhaps ease some of the criticisms.
The narrator, Robert Petkoff does an excellent job as always with the interpretation of the authors words.
I want to thank the authors, Macmillan Audio, and narrator Petkoff for the opportunity to listen to an early release of this book in exchange for an objective review.
I give Confronting Evil 4 out of 5 stars.
September 29, 2025
Bill O’Reilly is someone I like. I have read most of his other books. And I began reading this one and enjoyed it — at first. But his portrayal of the Shah of Iran as a vile dictator was so off the mark that I was disappointed. His portrayal was riddled with inaccuracies and outright false information. For example, he claims, without evidence, that the Shah was responsible for the infamous Cinema Rex Fire in Abadan. The truth is that this fire was caused by agents of the Islamic Revolution as a propaganda psy-op to turn the people of Iran against the Shah, and there is plenty of evidence to back this up. There are many other such false claims in that chapter. It makes me wonder what other parts of the book are written with shoddy research and misinformation.
September 28, 2025
Not for the weak-stomached. Pretty graphic detail of some truly evil monsters of history. From Caligula's Rome to the Putin's homicidal death gulags of post-Soviet Russia, Bill O'Reilly goes into some famous, well-known, psychopaths of old and new. Shit slaps. As always
September 25, 2025
I enjoyed this book. it's hard to fathom how these evil people could kill so many of their own people. The depravity was crazy to read about. Burn in hell all of them!
September 11, 2025
Fascinating!!
September 15, 2025
How do you have one chapter on Rockefeller and the next chapter on Stalin. This is embarrassing. It’s a cheap book. Nothing new. Waste of time.
November 29, 2025
Very readable and accessible for those of us who don't love reading history. It is not a how-to for confronting evil; rather, it presents profiles of men across centuries who commit evil acts. I was able to draw out the commonalities in all of them which helps in defining and recognizing evil, which I think is the point. l would not call this a comprehensive list of evildoers - hardly - and there are some interesting choices here, like the Robber Barons, who we don't usually compare to Hitler. Makes for interesting thinking, though.
November 27, 2025
Couldn’t put it down !
December 1, 2025
There is a tremendous amount of nastiness out there. Bill discusses 8 of them here. Another good job.
November 10, 2025
All the time I kept thinking, what is the point? We all know there’s evil in this world.
I didn’t need this book to spell out just how evil these men were/are.
Not Bill’s best work by a long shot.
I didn’t need this book to spell out just how evil these men were/are.
Not Bill’s best work by a long shot.
August 25, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARC copy of this book. I am not required to write a positive review nor paid to do so. The thoughts and opinions are all my own.
The audio copy of the book was great; Josh Hammer does an excellent job in narrating this story!
This is a history lesson revealing the evil rulers around the world. Very well-written and researched. If you enjoy history, you will love it, although it is not for the faint of heart.
We may not approve of events that transpired years ago, but history is history; we cannot erase it.
This book covers the actions of some of the worst people in history: Genghis Khan, Caligula, Henry VIII, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Putin, and the Mexican drug cartels. Their stories reveal how some of the worst events in history took place.
Confronting Evil inspires us to rise above the struggle between good and evil, a transformative choice each of us must make in our lives.
“We had and will always have evil in our midst. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.”
There are always consequences for our actions: "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
The audio copy of the book was great; Josh Hammer does an excellent job in narrating this story!
This is a history lesson revealing the evil rulers around the world. Very well-written and researched. If you enjoy history, you will love it, although it is not for the faint of heart.
We may not approve of events that transpired years ago, but history is history; we cannot erase it.
This book covers the actions of some of the worst people in history: Genghis Khan, Caligula, Henry VIII, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, the Ayatollah Khomeini, Putin, and the Mexican drug cartels. Their stories reveal how some of the worst events in history took place.
Confronting Evil inspires us to rise above the struggle between good and evil, a transformative choice each of us must make in our lives.
“We had and will always have evil in our midst. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.”
There are always consequences for our actions: "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
August 31, 2025
A glimpse through history at some really deposed human being and what makes them tick. Each story is brief, but compelling. It covers the modern day despots to the early beginnings of the world as we know it. Could there be more detail? Yes. However, this one allows for non academics to gain some historical perspective as well. Thanks to NetGalley for the read.
November 17, 2025
Excellent book describing these historical figures from a factual point of view, detailing their atrocities and their attitudes towards those atrocities. It is good to remember, especially as some are now glossed over and their descendants are still reaping the benefits.
Read
October 30, 2025In "Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst", Bill O’Reilly and Josh Hammer take a sobering journey through human history to explore the darkest aspects of human behavior and the motivations that drive people to commit acts of extraordinary cruelty. O’Reilly, known for his direct and unflinching commentary, argues that evil does not require complex philosophical definitions. It is, at its core, the deliberate infliction of harm on others without remorse. Behind nearly every atrocity, he identifies three fundamental motivators: the pursuit of money, the hunger for power, and the fanaticism of ideological or religious zealotry. Moving from ancient Rome to medieval Asia, through the slave markets of early America, into the bureaucratic horror of Nazi Germany, and finally to the drug wars of modern Mexico, O’Reilly and Hammer weave a compelling argument that evil is not confined to any one era or culture. It is a recurring feature of humanity itself, one that must be acknowledged before it can ever be confronted.
The story begins in the ancient world, with the Roman emperor Caligula serving as one of the earliest and clearest embodiments of absolute power corrupted by madness. When he ascended the throne in 37 CE, Rome believed itself blessed with a benevolent ruler, the beloved son of a respected general. Yet the illness that nearly killed him early in his reign seemed to unhinge his mind. Paranoia and cruelty consumed him, and his government descended into a nightmare of humiliation, violence, and perverse spectacle. Caligula executed and exiled friends and family, mocked the Senate by elevating his horse to a place of political honor, and presided over gruesome public displays of suffering for his own amusement. Unlike earlier despots who cloaked their tyranny in the rhetoric of tradition and law, Caligula made no attempt to disguise his megalomania. His reign stripped Rome of its moral foundations, reducing civic virtue to a farce and leaving behind a society where obedience replaced courage and survival depended on submission. Although he was ultimately assassinated by those meant to protect him, his legacy foreshadowed the corruption that would eat away at the Roman Empire for centuries to come. Evil, O’Reilly suggests, does not always destroy a civilization overnight - it corrodes it from within until collapse becomes inevitable.
Centuries later, in the vast steppes of Central Asia, another name would become synonymous with fear: Genghis Khan. Rising from obscurity and hardship, the Mongol leader transformed scattered tribes into the most formidable military force of the medieval world. But unlike Rome’s empire, which at least aspired to law and order, Khan’s dominion was built solely on terror. The annihilation of the ancient city of Merv in 1221 serves as a chilling example. Once a thriving center of learning and trade, Merv was reduced to ashes when Khan’s forces executed nearly every inhabitant - some 700,000 people by contemporary accounts. His soldiers weaponized speed, strategy, and psychological horror, ensuring that news of each massacre would cause other cities to surrender before the Mongols even arrived. O’Reilly describes Khan’s empire as one sustained not by culture or innovation but by the systematic use of fear as a political tool. It produced no enduring institutions, no great works, no moral code - only death. By the time Khan died in 1227, an estimated fifty million lives had been extinguished, roughly one-tenth of the world’s population at that time. His empire disintegrated shortly after his death, leaving little trace beyond its vast graveyards - a stark reminder of how empires built on blood seldom outlast their creators.
If ancient and medieval tyrants wielded swords to destroy lives, the American slave traders of the nineteenth century wielded ledgers and whips with equal brutality. The book shifts focus to Isaac Franklin and John Armfield, two businessmen who turned slavery into the United States’ most profitable enterprise. After the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed, these men capitalized on the booming cotton economy by trafficking enslaved people born on American soil. Their organization was vast and ruthlessly efficient, stretching across the southern states with networks of agents, auctioneers, and transporters. Armfield, the calculating mind of the operation, meticulously documented his 'inventory,' reducing men, women, and children to numbers and prices in account books that recorded even deaths as negligible business losses. Both men amassed modern equivalents of billions in personal wealth, never showing remorse or compassion. O’Reilly and Hammer highlight their ordinariness as perhaps the most terrifying aspect of their evil: they were not lunatics or despots but respectable businessmen, proof that monstrous acts often emerge not from insanity but from banal greed masked by professionalism. In this view, evil is not an aberration but something disturbingly ordinary, embedded in systems that reward cruelty when it brings profit.
From the slave markets of America, the authors move to the bureaucratic chambers of Nazi Germany, where the same lack of empathy was transformed into an industrial-scale machinery of genocide. The 1942 Wannsee Conference, attended by fifteen Nazi officials in a serene Berlin villa, became the setting for the systematic planning of the Holocaust. The meeting lasted a mere ninety minutes, during which Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann calmly discussed the logistics of exterminating Europe’s Jews. Euphemisms like 'evacuation' and 'resettlement' thinly veiled the reality of mass murder. Once the discussions concluded and cognac was poured, the machinery of death was set in motion: train schedules coordinated, ghettos liquidated, gas chambers constructed, and bodies disposed of with industrial precision. For O’Reilly and Hammer, this event epitomizes the most chilling form of evil - one that disguises itself in bureaucracy and civility. The Holocaust was not the product of bloodthirsty mobs but of educated men in tailored uniforms, demonstrating how moral detachment and professional ambition can turn human beings into executioners. When Eichmann was later tried in Jerusalem, he described himself as merely following orders - a testament to how easily conscience can be silenced in the service of ideology.
Finally, the narrative turns to the modern era, where evil continues to thrive in the global drug trade. The story of Frannie, a young woman found dead from an overdose in her car outside her parents’ home, personalizes the devastation wrought by cartels like that of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. O’Reilly and Hammer trace the rise of the Sinaloa Cartel, whose operations were built on the ruthless pursuit of profit through the spread of lethal narcotics. By introducing fentanyl - a synthetic opioid far more potent and easier to produce than heroin - the cartel created an epidemic that would claim tens of thousands of lives across North America. In Mexico, cartel violence corrupted officials and transformed entire regions into war zones, while in the United States, addiction hollowed out communities already struggling with poverty and despair. Like the slave traders before them, the cartel leaders were not ideologues but opportunists who weaponized addiction for wealth. The authors argue that this, too, is evil: the knowing destruction of lives for material gain, made possible by the indifference of those who benefit from the suffering of others.
Across these episodes - whether ancient or modern, political or personal - "Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst" underscores a grim but vital truth: evil flourishes when empathy disappears, when power goes unchecked, and when ordinary people look away. O’Reilly and Hammer insist that recognizing evil is the first step toward defeating it. It may wear the face of a mad emperor, a conquering warlord, a calculating businessman, a faceless bureaucrat, or a drug lord - but the essence remains the same: harm inflicted without remorse in pursuit of selfish ends. The book is not merely a chronicle of humanity’s darkest figures; it is a moral call to vigilance. By confronting these stories, the authors argue, we are forced to confront our own capacity for moral blindness. Evil is not a relic of the past - it lives wherever indifference allows it to grow. To truly confront it, we must first refuse to excuse it, no matter how ordinary its face may appear.
The story begins in the ancient world, with the Roman emperor Caligula serving as one of the earliest and clearest embodiments of absolute power corrupted by madness. When he ascended the throne in 37 CE, Rome believed itself blessed with a benevolent ruler, the beloved son of a respected general. Yet the illness that nearly killed him early in his reign seemed to unhinge his mind. Paranoia and cruelty consumed him, and his government descended into a nightmare of humiliation, violence, and perverse spectacle. Caligula executed and exiled friends and family, mocked the Senate by elevating his horse to a place of political honor, and presided over gruesome public displays of suffering for his own amusement. Unlike earlier despots who cloaked their tyranny in the rhetoric of tradition and law, Caligula made no attempt to disguise his megalomania. His reign stripped Rome of its moral foundations, reducing civic virtue to a farce and leaving behind a society where obedience replaced courage and survival depended on submission. Although he was ultimately assassinated by those meant to protect him, his legacy foreshadowed the corruption that would eat away at the Roman Empire for centuries to come. Evil, O’Reilly suggests, does not always destroy a civilization overnight - it corrodes it from within until collapse becomes inevitable.
Centuries later, in the vast steppes of Central Asia, another name would become synonymous with fear: Genghis Khan. Rising from obscurity and hardship, the Mongol leader transformed scattered tribes into the most formidable military force of the medieval world. But unlike Rome’s empire, which at least aspired to law and order, Khan’s dominion was built solely on terror. The annihilation of the ancient city of Merv in 1221 serves as a chilling example. Once a thriving center of learning and trade, Merv was reduced to ashes when Khan’s forces executed nearly every inhabitant - some 700,000 people by contemporary accounts. His soldiers weaponized speed, strategy, and psychological horror, ensuring that news of each massacre would cause other cities to surrender before the Mongols even arrived. O’Reilly describes Khan’s empire as one sustained not by culture or innovation but by the systematic use of fear as a political tool. It produced no enduring institutions, no great works, no moral code - only death. By the time Khan died in 1227, an estimated fifty million lives had been extinguished, roughly one-tenth of the world’s population at that time. His empire disintegrated shortly after his death, leaving little trace beyond its vast graveyards - a stark reminder of how empires built on blood seldom outlast their creators.
If ancient and medieval tyrants wielded swords to destroy lives, the American slave traders of the nineteenth century wielded ledgers and whips with equal brutality. The book shifts focus to Isaac Franklin and John Armfield, two businessmen who turned slavery into the United States’ most profitable enterprise. After the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed, these men capitalized on the booming cotton economy by trafficking enslaved people born on American soil. Their organization was vast and ruthlessly efficient, stretching across the southern states with networks of agents, auctioneers, and transporters. Armfield, the calculating mind of the operation, meticulously documented his 'inventory,' reducing men, women, and children to numbers and prices in account books that recorded even deaths as negligible business losses. Both men amassed modern equivalents of billions in personal wealth, never showing remorse or compassion. O’Reilly and Hammer highlight their ordinariness as perhaps the most terrifying aspect of their evil: they were not lunatics or despots but respectable businessmen, proof that monstrous acts often emerge not from insanity but from banal greed masked by professionalism. In this view, evil is not an aberration but something disturbingly ordinary, embedded in systems that reward cruelty when it brings profit.
From the slave markets of America, the authors move to the bureaucratic chambers of Nazi Germany, where the same lack of empathy was transformed into an industrial-scale machinery of genocide. The 1942 Wannsee Conference, attended by fifteen Nazi officials in a serene Berlin villa, became the setting for the systematic planning of the Holocaust. The meeting lasted a mere ninety minutes, during which Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann calmly discussed the logistics of exterminating Europe’s Jews. Euphemisms like 'evacuation' and 'resettlement' thinly veiled the reality of mass murder. Once the discussions concluded and cognac was poured, the machinery of death was set in motion: train schedules coordinated, ghettos liquidated, gas chambers constructed, and bodies disposed of with industrial precision. For O’Reilly and Hammer, this event epitomizes the most chilling form of evil - one that disguises itself in bureaucracy and civility. The Holocaust was not the product of bloodthirsty mobs but of educated men in tailored uniforms, demonstrating how moral detachment and professional ambition can turn human beings into executioners. When Eichmann was later tried in Jerusalem, he described himself as merely following orders - a testament to how easily conscience can be silenced in the service of ideology.
Finally, the narrative turns to the modern era, where evil continues to thrive in the global drug trade. The story of Frannie, a young woman found dead from an overdose in her car outside her parents’ home, personalizes the devastation wrought by cartels like that of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. O’Reilly and Hammer trace the rise of the Sinaloa Cartel, whose operations were built on the ruthless pursuit of profit through the spread of lethal narcotics. By introducing fentanyl - a synthetic opioid far more potent and easier to produce than heroin - the cartel created an epidemic that would claim tens of thousands of lives across North America. In Mexico, cartel violence corrupted officials and transformed entire regions into war zones, while in the United States, addiction hollowed out communities already struggling with poverty and despair. Like the slave traders before them, the cartel leaders were not ideologues but opportunists who weaponized addiction for wealth. The authors argue that this, too, is evil: the knowing destruction of lives for material gain, made possible by the indifference of those who benefit from the suffering of others.
Across these episodes - whether ancient or modern, political or personal - "Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst" underscores a grim but vital truth: evil flourishes when empathy disappears, when power goes unchecked, and when ordinary people look away. O’Reilly and Hammer insist that recognizing evil is the first step toward defeating it. It may wear the face of a mad emperor, a conquering warlord, a calculating businessman, a faceless bureaucrat, or a drug lord - but the essence remains the same: harm inflicted without remorse in pursuit of selfish ends. The book is not merely a chronicle of humanity’s darkest figures; it is a moral call to vigilance. By confronting these stories, the authors argue, we are forced to confront our own capacity for moral blindness. Evil is not a relic of the past - it lives wherever indifference allows it to grow. To truly confront it, we must first refuse to excuse it, no matter how ordinary its face may appear.
October 29, 2025
.
Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer
Confronting Evil
ASSESSING THE WORST OF THE WORST
about 300 pages and published in 2025.
About the book:
Good, evil, and some of the worst people who ever lived.
The concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. Evil is a choice to make another suffer. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.
The book recounts some of the worst evil doers in history as well as the present, beginning with the Hamas militants in Gaza who butchered babies, children and about 1,200 other Jewish citizens in Israel on October 7th 2023. The 12 chapters cover: Caligula; Genghis Khan; King Henry the 8th; Slavers off the Coast of New Orleans, Louisiana; Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Klu Klux Klan; the Robber Barons; Joseph Stalin; Adolf Hitler; Mao Zedong; Ayatollah Khomeini; Vladimir Putin; and the Drug Cartels.
Collectively, these warlords, tyrants, businessmen, and criminals are directly responsible for the death and misery of hundreds of millions of people. By telling what they did and why they did it, Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil--a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer.
.
The prologue begins with a relatively brief telling of just one Hamas group as they attacked innocent Israelis, murdered them and took some captive on October 7th 2023. The leader of this particular attack on the Be'eri kibbutz was killed by Israeli forces about 2 weeks later.
I was disappointed O'Reilly hadn't included a better description of the entire mass invasion by the Hamas terrorists and given at least an overview of their numerous crimes which the terrorists recorded using cell phones and cameras while they were killing sons and daughters, moms and dads and grandparents. Unless you know about the details of this attack from other sources, O'Reilly's description in the prologue sounds like a relatively minor incursion by comparison.
Chapter 1. Caligula lived from 12 AD to 41 AD. There are historic details of the Roman Empire, it's laws, government, enormous military and slave labor. Under Caligula's reign, Rome was the largest city in the world with about a million people and 80% in poverty. Provides details of his macabre family history, Caligula's personality change or mental breakdown after a long illness that seemed to turn him into a depraved dictator and tells of the conspirators in his Praetorian Guard who finally took him out.
Ends with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. "For 5 centuries Rome ruled the world. Now, a new era will dominate Europe. It's legacy will be one of constant war, disease, poverty, and misery. The Dark Ages have arrived. They will last 800 years."
2. Genghis Khan (about 1162 to 1227). The Destroyer of Civilizations, Genghis was the conqueror who ruled the Mongol Empire from China's Pacific Coast all the way to Eastern Europe. The chapter begins with the overthrow of the major trading city of Merv and the murder of all its inhabitants. Includes details of his slave mother and the boy becoming a violent warrior chieftain while still in his teens. His possible manner of death is disputed, but the book chose the scenario of him falling from his galloping horse and dying from the injuries.
3. King Henry the 8th (1491 to 1547). Desperately wanting a male heir to the throne, he rejected the Catholic church and the Pope's authority from Rome and established the Church of England so he could simply dump his first wife. He's responsible for the death of tens of thousands of his dissenters and the chapter begins with the framing and execution of Anne Boleyn, his second wife, so he could marry the third wife who actually gave him a son. His daughter, Elizabeth I, eventually became Queen of England and started the Elizabethan era, the Golden Age of England.
4. Slavers off the Coast of New Orleans, Louisiana (early 1800s). In 1808 the US outlawed the importation of new slaves, however slave traders could still sell domestic slaves and their American born offspring. This lucrative business made them filthy rich. The country was divided and many in Congress tried to eliminate slavery.
5. Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821 to 1877) and the Klu Klux Klan. Forest had been a Confederate general in the Civil War and after the war he was voted the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan which terrorized and murdered blacks, their supporters and republicans.
6. The Robber Barons (about 1865 to 1913 with the death of JP Morgan). Robber barons like Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and others were engaged in ruthless business practices that eliminated competition and led to the injury and death of many of their employees, while these unscrupulous businessman got filthy rich with their monopolies. Their corruption was reined in by lawsuits and the Supreme Court with the Antitrust Act and breaking up their monopolies.
7. Joseph Stalin (1878 to 1953). He grew up in poverty, but got involved in the Bolshevik Revolution that saw the end of the Romanovs, the Russian monarchy and eventually Russia became the first communist government, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). The chapter begins with the siege of Stalingrad by the Nazis and eventually the Soviet victory that started the German Wehrmacht's fighting withdrawal all the way back to Berlin. With Stalin getting rid of his enemies and political opponents during the Great Purge, the Gulags and other murderous policies, it's estimated that he was responsible for the death of maybe 50 million Russians.
8. Adolf Hitler (1889 to 1945). The life and times of Adolf, from his youth to ending his life in the underground bunker in Berlin using a Walther PPK pistol. Also mentions the lunatic left, the Democrats, using accusations of Hitleresque against Donald Trump in the 2024 election. "... a foolish and insensitive propaganda move initiated by people ignorant of history.".
9. Mao Zedong (1893 to 1976) and his failed policies like the Great Leap Forward caused the death of tens of millions of Chinese. It also mentions the World War II atrocities by the Japanese invaders who forced so many Chinese women into sexual slavery, (maybe 200,000).
10. Ayatollah Khomeini (1902 to 1989). The leader of the Islamic revolution (1979) in Iran. He overthrew the regime of the Shah of Iran and established strict Islamic laws which included plenty of abuse and severe restrictions for women. "Islamic fundamentalism still shrouds Iran, as does violence. Each year, thousands of political dissidents are hanged ... Homosexuals are subjected to “execution by falling from great heights”—they are thrown from rooftops."
11. Vladimir Putin (the current Russian president born in 1952). Covers his poverty-stricken youth where he earned pocket change by exterminating rats in the neighborhood. He had a propensity for violence and was recruited by the KGB. As a KGB officer he was stationed in Dresden, East Germany where in 1989 the citizens of that police state revolted and eventually the Berlin Wall was destroyed. After the collapse of the USSR, it details Putin's rise to prominence as the Russian leader.
Putin and Ukraine, he’s always considered Ukraine to be part of Russia. The 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea during the Obama administration was likely a test to see what the president would do? Basically nothing and so Putin went ahead with the all out invasion of Ukraine while Biden was president. The war continues.
"... history will record him as one of the worst tyrants in modern times ... Putin’s entire life has been based on violence. And the destruction he continues to sow has harmed millions of innocent people."
12. The Drug Cartels (beginning with the 20th century and now the 21st century). Gives details of the cartels and some examples of lives ruined with drugs. Covers Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel (El Chapo); the demonic patron saint of the cartels, the Santa Muerte cult (Holy Death) and Pablo Escobar of the Medellín Cartel in Columbia. In addition to past presidents involved in fighting drug issues, it mentions the Biden administration aiding and abetting the cartels as Biden let 14 million illegals stream across our border. Not to mention nearly all Democrats acting as accessories after the fact as they protect criminal illegals in the country.
"The Mexican drug cartels continue to wreak havoc all over the world. The gangs generate $600 billion each year smuggling narcotics as well as human beings across the US-Mexican border. Under President Biden, cartel profits soar as an open-border policy is instituted. Upon taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump rescinds that policy."
Afterward
Evil is harming people without remorse except in self defense and just warfare. O'Reilly recounts evildoers he's reported on and exposed and those who don't believe in the concept, like secular-progressives. "Evil is a plague upon every land. It can be defeated . . . But far too often, destructive behavior continues unabated. That is life’s greatest frustration."
..
A lot of historic details, but for the most part it's interesting and informative. Some of the personal details may have been embellished, who knows. Here's one example. "Winston Churchill is cautious. It is February 10, 1945. The British Prime Minister lights the tip of another cigar and throws the match into an ornate glass ashtray. He sips a glass of Johnny Walker whiskey diluted with water, surveying the room around him."
The occasion was the meeting between the big three: Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union at the conference in Yalta on the Crimean peninsula.
Includes a lengthy section of notes and sources.
.
Bill O'Reilly and Josh Hammer
Confronting Evil
ASSESSING THE WORST OF THE WORST
about 300 pages and published in 2025.
About the book:
Good, evil, and some of the worst people who ever lived.
The concept of evil is universal, ancient, and ever present today. The biblical book of Genesis clearly defines it when Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy. Evil is a choice to make another suffer. As long as human beings have walked, evil has been close by.
The book recounts some of the worst evil doers in history as well as the present, beginning with the Hamas militants in Gaza who butchered babies, children and about 1,200 other Jewish citizens in Israel on October 7th 2023. The 12 chapters cover: Caligula; Genghis Khan; King Henry the 8th; Slavers off the Coast of New Orleans, Louisiana; Nathan Bedford Forrest and the Klu Klux Klan; the Robber Barons; Joseph Stalin; Adolf Hitler; Mao Zedong; Ayatollah Khomeini; Vladimir Putin; and the Drug Cartels.
Collectively, these warlords, tyrants, businessmen, and criminals are directly responsible for the death and misery of hundreds of millions of people. By telling what they did and why they did it, Confronting Evil explains the struggle between good and evil--a choice every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition is compelled to make. But many defer.
.
The prologue begins with a relatively brief telling of just one Hamas group as they attacked innocent Israelis, murdered them and took some captive on October 7th 2023. The leader of this particular attack on the Be'eri kibbutz was killed by Israeli forces about 2 weeks later.
I was disappointed O'Reilly hadn't included a better description of the entire mass invasion by the Hamas terrorists and given at least an overview of their numerous crimes which the terrorists recorded using cell phones and cameras while they were killing sons and daughters, moms and dads and grandparents. Unless you know about the details of this attack from other sources, O'Reilly's description in the prologue sounds like a relatively minor incursion by comparison.
Chapter 1. Caligula lived from 12 AD to 41 AD. There are historic details of the Roman Empire, it's laws, government, enormous military and slave labor. Under Caligula's reign, Rome was the largest city in the world with about a million people and 80% in poverty. Provides details of his macabre family history, Caligula's personality change or mental breakdown after a long illness that seemed to turn him into a depraved dictator and tells of the conspirators in his Praetorian Guard who finally took him out.
Ends with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. "For 5 centuries Rome ruled the world. Now, a new era will dominate Europe. It's legacy will be one of constant war, disease, poverty, and misery. The Dark Ages have arrived. They will last 800 years."
2. Genghis Khan (about 1162 to 1227). The Destroyer of Civilizations, Genghis was the conqueror who ruled the Mongol Empire from China's Pacific Coast all the way to Eastern Europe. The chapter begins with the overthrow of the major trading city of Merv and the murder of all its inhabitants. Includes details of his slave mother and the boy becoming a violent warrior chieftain while still in his teens. His possible manner of death is disputed, but the book chose the scenario of him falling from his galloping horse and dying from the injuries.
3. King Henry the 8th (1491 to 1547). Desperately wanting a male heir to the throne, he rejected the Catholic church and the Pope's authority from Rome and established the Church of England so he could simply dump his first wife. He's responsible for the death of tens of thousands of his dissenters and the chapter begins with the framing and execution of Anne Boleyn, his second wife, so he could marry the third wife who actually gave him a son. His daughter, Elizabeth I, eventually became Queen of England and started the Elizabethan era, the Golden Age of England.
4. Slavers off the Coast of New Orleans, Louisiana (early 1800s). In 1808 the US outlawed the importation of new slaves, however slave traders could still sell domestic slaves and their American born offspring. This lucrative business made them filthy rich. The country was divided and many in Congress tried to eliminate slavery.
5. Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821 to 1877) and the Klu Klux Klan. Forest had been a Confederate general in the Civil War and after the war he was voted the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan which terrorized and murdered blacks, their supporters and republicans.
6. The Robber Barons (about 1865 to 1913 with the death of JP Morgan). Robber barons like Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and others were engaged in ruthless business practices that eliminated competition and led to the injury and death of many of their employees, while these unscrupulous businessman got filthy rich with their monopolies. Their corruption was reined in by lawsuits and the Supreme Court with the Antitrust Act and breaking up their monopolies.
7. Joseph Stalin (1878 to 1953). He grew up in poverty, but got involved in the Bolshevik Revolution that saw the end of the Romanovs, the Russian monarchy and eventually Russia became the first communist government, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). The chapter begins with the siege of Stalingrad by the Nazis and eventually the Soviet victory that started the German Wehrmacht's fighting withdrawal all the way back to Berlin. With Stalin getting rid of his enemies and political opponents during the Great Purge, the Gulags and other murderous policies, it's estimated that he was responsible for the death of maybe 50 million Russians.
8. Adolf Hitler (1889 to 1945). The life and times of Adolf, from his youth to ending his life in the underground bunker in Berlin using a Walther PPK pistol. Also mentions the lunatic left, the Democrats, using accusations of Hitleresque against Donald Trump in the 2024 election. "... a foolish and insensitive propaganda move initiated by people ignorant of history.".
9. Mao Zedong (1893 to 1976) and his failed policies like the Great Leap Forward caused the death of tens of millions of Chinese. It also mentions the World War II atrocities by the Japanese invaders who forced so many Chinese women into sexual slavery, (maybe 200,000).
10. Ayatollah Khomeini (1902 to 1989). The leader of the Islamic revolution (1979) in Iran. He overthrew the regime of the Shah of Iran and established strict Islamic laws which included plenty of abuse and severe restrictions for women. "Islamic fundamentalism still shrouds Iran, as does violence. Each year, thousands of political dissidents are hanged ... Homosexuals are subjected to “execution by falling from great heights”—they are thrown from rooftops."
11. Vladimir Putin (the current Russian president born in 1952). Covers his poverty-stricken youth where he earned pocket change by exterminating rats in the neighborhood. He had a propensity for violence and was recruited by the KGB. As a KGB officer he was stationed in Dresden, East Germany where in 1989 the citizens of that police state revolted and eventually the Berlin Wall was destroyed. After the collapse of the USSR, it details Putin's rise to prominence as the Russian leader.
Putin and Ukraine, he’s always considered Ukraine to be part of Russia. The 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea during the Obama administration was likely a test to see what the president would do? Basically nothing and so Putin went ahead with the all out invasion of Ukraine while Biden was president. The war continues.
"... history will record him as one of the worst tyrants in modern times ... Putin’s entire life has been based on violence. And the destruction he continues to sow has harmed millions of innocent people."
12. The Drug Cartels (beginning with the 20th century and now the 21st century). Gives details of the cartels and some examples of lives ruined with drugs. Covers Guzman of the Sinaloa cartel (El Chapo); the demonic patron saint of the cartels, the Santa Muerte cult (Holy Death) and Pablo Escobar of the Medellín Cartel in Columbia. In addition to past presidents involved in fighting drug issues, it mentions the Biden administration aiding and abetting the cartels as Biden let 14 million illegals stream across our border. Not to mention nearly all Democrats acting as accessories after the fact as they protect criminal illegals in the country.
"The Mexican drug cartels continue to wreak havoc all over the world. The gangs generate $600 billion each year smuggling narcotics as well as human beings across the US-Mexican border. Under President Biden, cartel profits soar as an open-border policy is instituted. Upon taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump rescinds that policy."
Afterward
Evil is harming people without remorse except in self defense and just warfare. O'Reilly recounts evildoers he's reported on and exposed and those who don't believe in the concept, like secular-progressives. "Evil is a plague upon every land. It can be defeated . . . But far too often, destructive behavior continues unabated. That is life’s greatest frustration."
..
A lot of historic details, but for the most part it's interesting and informative. Some of the personal details may have been embellished, who knows. Here's one example. "Winston Churchill is cautious. It is February 10, 1945. The British Prime Minister lights the tip of another cigar and throws the match into an ornate glass ashtray. He sips a glass of Johnny Walker whiskey diluted with water, surveying the room around him."
The occasion was the meeting between the big three: Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union at the conference in Yalta on the Crimean peninsula.
Includes a lengthy section of notes and sources.
.
November 8, 2025
An excellent book describing the atrocities of Caligula, Genghis Khan, King Henry VIII, the slavers and the robber barons of the US, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse Dong, the Shah of Iran, Putin. Anyone who is a reader ought to read this book.
October 9, 2025
This is the most ill-organized book I’ve ever read. I read it hoping to learn from it, but it was so incredibly disjointed. The timeline jumps around insanely. It’s almost like the book didn’t even have an editor.
October 22, 2025
I always enjoy O'Reilly's books. Easy to read and very informative. One standout to me in this book is how evil Vladimir Putin actually is. I always knew he was a bad guy but the depth of his depravity surprised me.
October 30, 2025
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)
In “Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst” by Bill O’Reilly (with Josh Hammer), the author argues that evil is simply harming a human without remorse, driven by one of three motives—money, power or zealotry—and invites us to confront it, rather than look away.
Executive Summary
Here’s how the book is shaped and what it claims:
- Thesis: Evil is not a fuzzy concept—it is defined as the choice to inflict harm on another human, without remorse.
- Motivations: O’Reilly identifies three primary fuels for evil deeds: money, power, and zealotry (ideological fervor).
- Structure / Approach: The book uses a series of historical case-studies (from ancient and modern times) of notorious figures and regimes—Caligula, Genghis Khan, 19th-century slave traders, the Nazi regime, etc.—to illustrate how evil manifests repeatedly across time.
- Moral call to action: The authors argue that recognizing evil—and resisting its normalization—is a responsibility of “good” people; failure to act enables evil to spread.
- Intended audience and tone: A wide-readership nonfiction work, accessible rather than purely academic; framed in journalistic/historical narrative style, with moral commentary.
Review
As someone immersed in learning psychology and instructional design, I found this book to engage a rich vein: the notion that humans (and institutions) learn patterns—sometimes destructive ones—and that we need mechanisms (feedback, reflection, moral scaffolding) to redirect them. The author’s crisp definition of evil (“harming a human without remorse”) grabbed me—it cuts through a lot of philosophical fog and gives a concrete target for both analysis and pedagogy. That clarity is a strength. But identifying evil is much easier than proposing a solution to combat it, like a campaign to “see something, say something.” I look to religion for answers to these moral and ethical questions. (The Book of Mormon is especially helpful regarding how to address evil.)
In my own work, I often emphasize how learners internalize not just skills but values and heuristics: how do we embed “see something, say something” into organizational culture? O’Reilly’s book speaks to that: when evil becomes tolerated, when the feedback loops of society fail to sanction, then evil is allowed to step in and the destructive patterns proliferate. The case-studies strengthen that argument: by showing how agents fueled by money (mercantile slavery), power (dictatorship) or zealotry (ideological extremism) overcame the safeguards of their societies.
However—and this is where my instructional-designer lens raised a flag—the book sometimes leans into sweeping moral binaries (good vs. evil), which simplifies in a way that may limit deep learning. In instructional design we aim for nuance: how did system failures, bystander effects, discipline breakdowns contribute? O’Reilly mentions these but often returns to the individual moral failure, which is fair but incomplete. For someone designing a learning intervention about ethics, I'd want more on how structures enabled the evil—not just who and why. For example, what were the institutional logs, culture cues, reward systems that failed?
Another point: while the motive frame (money/power/zealotry) is tight and helpful, human behavior is frequently more tangled—hybrids of motives, system pressures, identity dynamics. The book gives many vivid examples, which I appreciated (even the darker ones: slave traders converting humans to “things,” yet I found myself wishing for deeper integration of psychological theory (cognitive dissonance, groupthink, moral disengagement) which I draw on in my work. In short: great for awareness, less so for deeper mechanism.
On the emotional / reflective side: I was moved by its invitation to moral vigilance. As someone driven by the value of growth, the idea that “good men must not look on” (quoting John Stuart Mill) echoes the importance of scaffolding not just knowledge but courageous action. The book reminded me: we seldom teach “how to act when you see evil” in a structured way; many learning programs stop at “recognize it.” O’Reilly’s framing nudges toward “what do you do?” which is generative for me.
So: I’d recommend this book for instructional designers, organizational leaders, ethicists, or any learner-focused professional who seeks a readable, morally centered historical overview of destructive human behaviour. But I’d pair it with more depth on systems and psychology to round out the design-relevance.
TL;DR
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ (4 out of 5) — I’ll take away the crisp framing: evil = harming without remorse, driven by money/power/zealotry. I’ll apply this in designing learning modules that aim to detect systemic vulnerabilities (not just bad actors). If you’re someone who cares about ethics, leadership, historical patterns of cruelty, and how to build moral awareness in learners, this is a good pick.
Similar Reads
- The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker — a data-driven look at violence across time and what makes it decline (complements O’Reilly’s narrative of evil).
- Worse Than War by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen — a rigorous investigation of genocide and eliminationist violence (for more depth on systems).
- The Road to Freedom by Václav Havel — a philosophic reflection on moral responsibility in political life (for the individual/structural bridge).
Authorship Note: This review was co-authored using a time-saving GPT I built to help structure and refine my thoughts.
In “Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst” by Bill O’Reilly (with Josh Hammer), the author argues that evil is simply harming a human without remorse, driven by one of three motives—money, power or zealotry—and invites us to confront it, rather than look away.
Executive Summary
Here’s how the book is shaped and what it claims:
- Thesis: Evil is not a fuzzy concept—it is defined as the choice to inflict harm on another human, without remorse.
- Motivations: O’Reilly identifies three primary fuels for evil deeds: money, power, and zealotry (ideological fervor).
- Structure / Approach: The book uses a series of historical case-studies (from ancient and modern times) of notorious figures and regimes—Caligula, Genghis Khan, 19th-century slave traders, the Nazi regime, etc.—to illustrate how evil manifests repeatedly across time.
- Moral call to action: The authors argue that recognizing evil—and resisting its normalization—is a responsibility of “good” people; failure to act enables evil to spread.
- Intended audience and tone: A wide-readership nonfiction work, accessible rather than purely academic; framed in journalistic/historical narrative style, with moral commentary.
Review
As someone immersed in learning psychology and instructional design, I found this book to engage a rich vein: the notion that humans (and institutions) learn patterns—sometimes destructive ones—and that we need mechanisms (feedback, reflection, moral scaffolding) to redirect them. The author’s crisp definition of evil (“harming a human without remorse”) grabbed me—it cuts through a lot of philosophical fog and gives a concrete target for both analysis and pedagogy. That clarity is a strength. But identifying evil is much easier than proposing a solution to combat it, like a campaign to “see something, say something.” I look to religion for answers to these moral and ethical questions. (The Book of Mormon is especially helpful regarding how to address evil.)
In my own work, I often emphasize how learners internalize not just skills but values and heuristics: how do we embed “see something, say something” into organizational culture? O’Reilly’s book speaks to that: when evil becomes tolerated, when the feedback loops of society fail to sanction, then evil is allowed to step in and the destructive patterns proliferate. The case-studies strengthen that argument: by showing how agents fueled by money (mercantile slavery), power (dictatorship) or zealotry (ideological extremism) overcame the safeguards of their societies.
However—and this is where my instructional-designer lens raised a flag—the book sometimes leans into sweeping moral binaries (good vs. evil), which simplifies in a way that may limit deep learning. In instructional design we aim for nuance: how did system failures, bystander effects, discipline breakdowns contribute? O’Reilly mentions these but often returns to the individual moral failure, which is fair but incomplete. For someone designing a learning intervention about ethics, I'd want more on how structures enabled the evil—not just who and why. For example, what were the institutional logs, culture cues, reward systems that failed?
Another point: while the motive frame (money/power/zealotry) is tight and helpful, human behavior is frequently more tangled—hybrids of motives, system pressures, identity dynamics. The book gives many vivid examples, which I appreciated (even the darker ones: slave traders converting humans to “things,” yet I found myself wishing for deeper integration of psychological theory (cognitive dissonance, groupthink, moral disengagement) which I draw on in my work. In short: great for awareness, less so for deeper mechanism.
On the emotional / reflective side: I was moved by its invitation to moral vigilance. As someone driven by the value of growth, the idea that “good men must not look on” (quoting John Stuart Mill) echoes the importance of scaffolding not just knowledge but courageous action. The book reminded me: we seldom teach “how to act when you see evil” in a structured way; many learning programs stop at “recognize it.” O’Reilly’s framing nudges toward “what do you do?” which is generative for me.
So: I’d recommend this book for instructional designers, organizational leaders, ethicists, or any learner-focused professional who seeks a readable, morally centered historical overview of destructive human behaviour. But I’d pair it with more depth on systems and psychology to round out the design-relevance.
TL;DR
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ (4 out of 5) — I’ll take away the crisp framing: evil = harming without remorse, driven by money/power/zealotry. I’ll apply this in designing learning modules that aim to detect systemic vulnerabilities (not just bad actors). If you’re someone who cares about ethics, leadership, historical patterns of cruelty, and how to build moral awareness in learners, this is a good pick.
Similar Reads
- The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker — a data-driven look at violence across time and what makes it decline (complements O’Reilly’s narrative of evil).
- Worse Than War by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen — a rigorous investigation of genocide and eliminationist violence (for more depth on systems).
- The Road to Freedom by Václav Havel — a philosophic reflection on moral responsibility in political life (for the individual/structural bridge).
Authorship Note: This review was co-authored using a time-saving GPT I built to help structure and refine my thoughts.
September 13, 2025
Bill O’Reilly proves once again why he is America’s preeminent historian. Confronting Evil is gripping, well-documented, and—though O’Reilly is known as a right-wing voice—entirely apolitical in its presentation. His footnotes and research shine through every chapter.
I had forgotten just how cruel Henry VIII truly was until this book brought him back to life on the page. O’Reilly makes history both vivid and accessible, telling stories that stick with you long after you close the cover.
An outstanding addition to his body of work.
I had forgotten just how cruel Henry VIII truly was until this book brought him back to life on the page. O’Reilly makes history both vivid and accessible, telling stories that stick with you long after you close the cover.
An outstanding addition to his body of work.
September 16, 2025
So timely and so important! This book is evidence of how evil has persisted throughout the world for centuries, and it is a call to arms for humans to peacefully act to ensure the plague of evil is eradicated.
September 30, 2025
Humans can be so evil.
It is hard to imagine this level of evil. Thank goodness for my quiet life. I know it is true though. Excellent book. Thank you Bill for writing it.and
It is hard to imagine this level of evil. Thank goodness for my quiet life. I know it is true though. Excellent book. Thank you Bill for writing it.and
October 3, 2025
Informative
Bill O'Reilly never disappoints. His books are always informative and very interesting. His love of history and the importance of keeping it honest always show in his writings.
Bill O'Reilly never disappoints. His books are always informative and very interesting. His love of history and the importance of keeping it honest always show in his writings.
October 22, 2025
Wow. I'm pretty disappointed in this book. While the Killing series makes up details to paint a picture and tell a story, this one goes above and beyond by inflating numbers or stating numerical figures that don't add up, making up historical facts, or taking speculation and stating it as absolute fact.
Here's just a few of the things the book claims:
- Anne Boleyn was 6 months pregnant when she married Henry VIII in January 1533. (Considering she gave birth to Elizabeth in September 1533, I'm trying to figure out the possibility of this. 6 weeks pregnant maybe? Because of their secret marriage in November 1532? She couldn't have been 6 months pregnant and at 6 weeks Henry probably wouldn't have had to do much of anything to cover up her condition).
- Hundreds of women were accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. (Maybe in Scotland. In Henry VIII's England, those accused of witchcraft were usually hanged).
- Henry VIII had his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, raped by soldiers and then she was exiled and lived in poverty. (Poverty maybe for a queen's standards? There is no evidence he had men rape his first wife. Catherine Howard, maybe?)
- Jane Seymour was pregnant when Henry VIII married her. (It was possible that she had a miscarriage, but there is no evidence of miscarriage or that she was even pregnant. She was married in May 1536 and had her son Edward in October 1537).
- Henry VIII supposedly didn't care that Jane Seymour was dying after giving birth, and then didn't mourn her when she did. (Yet she was the only one of his wives to receive a queen's funeral and burial next to him. He also reportedly wore black for months, showed believable grief, and did not marry again for 3 years after her death).
- Louisiana slave shipper's made $500,000 profit (equivalent to 15 million in today's currency) in just one shipment of slaves from Virginia to the South. (The figures for the shipment we are given: 121 males/$800 each, 46 women/$400 each, 37 children/$200 each. This equals $122,600, not $500,000. Plus the ship and crew were paid $15,000. Not to cause a squabble about the money gained in the heinous act of selling humans, but the math just does not math here. Figures match 1828 prices and even if you try to figure the common 20-30% mark ups, it still doesn't match.)
- JP Morgan had an affair with the British actress and socialite, Lillie Langtry. (No evidence of this and is based on speculation).
- "15,000 Jews are murdered everyday" at Auschwitz. (History says at the height of Auschwitz's operation it was roughly 8,000 a day. (However, 15,000 prisoners died while marching to other camps before Soviet forces could liberate the camp)).
- "95% of people deported to Auschwitz are killed on arrival" (95% of Jews maybe? It was 75-80% killed on arrival.)
- "...under orders of Vladimir Lenin and his top lieutenant, Joseph Stalin, the entire royal [Romanov] family is to be liquidated...Confirmation of the family's murder is sent to Moscow. Stalin and Lenin celebrate." (Nope. It is most likely that orders to execute the Romanovs came from Moscow (though some sources say ordered by Ural Regional Soviet and sanctioned by Bolshevik leadership), but it would have been Lenin and Sverdlov who would have ordered it, not Stalin. He was not in a position where he would have been closely involved with that at that time. Yakov Yurovsky carried out the executions, but no, there is no evidence that he idolized Stalin and he actually ended up being a victim of Stalin's Great Purge.)
- Mao's Great Famine killed 45 million people and he was responsible for 80 million deaths. (Most sources say 30-40 million in the famine, and 80 million is the high estimate in total deaths that historians and researchers state).
- Drug cartels killed Mormon missionaries (Yes, Mormon missionaries have been murdered in Mexico. However, the nine mentioned women and children who were mistakenly murdered were not missionaries as such but were living in Mexico as part of a small religious splinter group which broke off from the Fundamentalist LDS church, who are a splinter group from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. The women and children were traveling to meet up with family members).
These are just ones that immediately didn't jive with things I've read or learned in the past. I did try to double check to make sure I wasn't remembering wrong, and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt with how many resources (some with conflicting data) there are out there, but these sorts of things bother me. It feels like either their editing/fact checking was done poorly or they felt the need to inflate things to prove these men were indeed evil.
Honestly, you don't need this book to know these people were/are evil unless you've been living under a rock. And you don't need made up or inflated facts. The KKK, Hitler, Stalin, Mao? Yep. Evil.
In my opinion, you can save yourself some time by skipping this one.
Here's just a few of the things the book claims:
- Anne Boleyn was 6 months pregnant when she married Henry VIII in January 1533. (Considering she gave birth to Elizabeth in September 1533, I'm trying to figure out the possibility of this. 6 weeks pregnant maybe? Because of their secret marriage in November 1532? She couldn't have been 6 months pregnant and at 6 weeks Henry probably wouldn't have had to do much of anything to cover up her condition).
- Hundreds of women were accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. (Maybe in Scotland. In Henry VIII's England, those accused of witchcraft were usually hanged).
- Henry VIII had his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, raped by soldiers and then she was exiled and lived in poverty. (Poverty maybe for a queen's standards? There is no evidence he had men rape his first wife. Catherine Howard, maybe?)
- Jane Seymour was pregnant when Henry VIII married her. (It was possible that she had a miscarriage, but there is no evidence of miscarriage or that she was even pregnant. She was married in May 1536 and had her son Edward in October 1537).
- Henry VIII supposedly didn't care that Jane Seymour was dying after giving birth, and then didn't mourn her when she did. (Yet she was the only one of his wives to receive a queen's funeral and burial next to him. He also reportedly wore black for months, showed believable grief, and did not marry again for 3 years after her death).
- Louisiana slave shipper's made $500,000 profit (equivalent to 15 million in today's currency) in just one shipment of slaves from Virginia to the South. (The figures for the shipment we are given: 121 males/$800 each, 46 women/$400 each, 37 children/$200 each. This equals $122,600, not $500,000. Plus the ship and crew were paid $15,000. Not to cause a squabble about the money gained in the heinous act of selling humans, but the math just does not math here. Figures match 1828 prices and even if you try to figure the common 20-30% mark ups, it still doesn't match.)
- JP Morgan had an affair with the British actress and socialite, Lillie Langtry. (No evidence of this and is based on speculation).
- "15,000 Jews are murdered everyday" at Auschwitz. (History says at the height of Auschwitz's operation it was roughly 8,000 a day. (However, 15,000 prisoners died while marching to other camps before Soviet forces could liberate the camp)).
- "95% of people deported to Auschwitz are killed on arrival" (95% of Jews maybe? It was 75-80% killed on arrival.)
- "...under orders of Vladimir Lenin and his top lieutenant, Joseph Stalin, the entire royal [Romanov] family is to be liquidated...Confirmation of the family's murder is sent to Moscow. Stalin and Lenin celebrate." (Nope. It is most likely that orders to execute the Romanovs came from Moscow (though some sources say ordered by Ural Regional Soviet and sanctioned by Bolshevik leadership), but it would have been Lenin and Sverdlov who would have ordered it, not Stalin. He was not in a position where he would have been closely involved with that at that time. Yakov Yurovsky carried out the executions, but no, there is no evidence that he idolized Stalin and he actually ended up being a victim of Stalin's Great Purge.)
- Mao's Great Famine killed 45 million people and he was responsible for 80 million deaths. (Most sources say 30-40 million in the famine, and 80 million is the high estimate in total deaths that historians and researchers state).
- Drug cartels killed Mormon missionaries (Yes, Mormon missionaries have been murdered in Mexico. However, the nine mentioned women and children who were mistakenly murdered were not missionaries as such but were living in Mexico as part of a small religious splinter group which broke off from the Fundamentalist LDS church, who are a splinter group from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. The women and children were traveling to meet up with family members).
These are just ones that immediately didn't jive with things I've read or learned in the past. I did try to double check to make sure I wasn't remembering wrong, and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt with how many resources (some with conflicting data) there are out there, but these sorts of things bother me. It feels like either their editing/fact checking was done poorly or they felt the need to inflate things to prove these men were indeed evil.
Honestly, you don't need this book to know these people were/are evil unless you've been living under a rock. And you don't need made up or inflated facts. The KKK, Hitler, Stalin, Mao? Yep. Evil.
In my opinion, you can save yourself some time by skipping this one.
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