Includes index.

The globalization of evil -- Humor's cousin -- A current through the world -- Why do they do it? -- The hermit's tale -- A catastrophic education -- The axis of wrong -- Sarajevo : lex talionis -- The rifleman's dilemma -- Jean Valjean at Wendy's -- Visigoths in the brain -- The axe in space -- What have children to do with it? -- The triumph of Goneril and Regan -- Tu quoque -- The rattlesnake in the mailbox -- Permissible evil -- Taking responsibility for the regime -- Office malignities -- The consolations of literature -- Us and them -- The face's secrects -- Club med for monsters -- Sade, Cobain, and the pleasures of evil -- Gormets and monkey brains -- The limits of silence -- The argument from design -- It is always a story -- The lessons of Mein Kampf -- What Nachtwey sees -- The quest for purity -- The foses lose heart -- Czerniakow's choice -- Hope.

"Long couched only in theological terms, and popularly personified by the despots of history, the nature of evil has resisted explanation. In this singular survey of this mysterious but all too often palpable force, veteran Time magazine writer Lance Morrow examines the unmistakable ways evil influences our global culture-and how that global culture in turn has magnified evil's menace. Its dramatic reemergence in the national consciousness-against a backdrop of high-tech, sensationalized violence-makes his updated understanding both timely and absolutely necessary. Drawing on examples both obscure and splashed across the headlines, Morrow seeks to understand how evil works, and what purpose, if any, it serves. From the heartrending to the harrowing, from quiet lies to catastrophic acts, his stories are drawn from over thirty years of experience as a revered journalist and essayist. The result is a brilliant synthesis of a lifetime of observation that elegantly illuminates a chronically elusive but fascinating subject."--Amazon.com.