Evil: A Primer: A History of a Bad Idea from Beelzebub to Bin Laden [Hardcover]

William Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0312312814 | ISBN-13: 978-0312312817 | Edition: 1st

"Today our nation saw evil." - President George W. Bush, September 11th 2001

Evil! Like a zombie back from the grave, it has arisen--a word many of us had long ago relegated to Sunday sermons, video games and horror flicks. But of course, evil is not old fashioned, nor has it ever gone away, and may be as robust as ever.

So what is evil? Does it exist? Veteran journalist Bill Hart tries to drag evil out of the darkness and hold it up to the light. In doing so, he has written a very readable account of 5,000 years of philosophy, theology and human history as it reflects and refines its notion of evil.

More than an explanation of why bad things happen, Evil: A Primer is a tour through the nether regions in search of what we really know.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The concept of evil has been much bandied about of late, so it is refreshing to see an attempt to bring a discussion of its machinations to the public forum. Hart begins by groping for a workable definition of evil and uses his starting point--specifically, that evil is an "intentional human act that causes extreme harm to innocents and attacks our basic moral order"--to set up a philosophical, historical, and literary tour of Bad Things. Condensing 4,000-odd years of human grappling into a book that is brief and, yes, lighthearted enough to be airport fare is difficult, and Hart deserves praise for presenting a broad range of complex ideas so concisely and accessibly. He also gets credit for having the guts to remind us that we like doing evil things, or at least naughty things. Concision has its flip side, however, and this book's often-flippant eclecticism borders on superficiality; the short shrift that Hart grants unintentional, systemic, banal evil is particularly troubling. As a primer, Hart's book has its qualities. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"William Hart's Evil: A Primer is an engaging survey of the very complex problems that litter the conceptual geography of evil. He invites us to look at a roots of the concept and its relationship to religious beliefs and geopolitical issues. He explores the black depths of our intellectual and social history and reveals for us, in a clear and concise fashion, what we all need to be thinking about when politicians, religious leaders, and terrorists use the term 'evil' to describe their enemies. We have heard a great deal in recent years of evil empires and 'the axis of evil,' of evil people and evil actions. William Hart's book provides a foundation for all of us to put such evocations of evil in a proper context."
- Professor Peter A. French, Lincoln Chair in Ethics, Arizona State University and author of Cowboy Metaphysics and The Virtue of Vengeance

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (September 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312312814
• ISBN-13: 978-0312312817
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,811,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vastly learned book, but a light touch, April 19, 2007

By 

booklover "booklover" (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Evil: A Primer: A History of a Bad Idea from Beelzebub to Bin Laden (Hardcover)

William Hart's bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. He has clearly done his research. Yet the book is written with a light touch. He describes why evil both fascinates and repels, and considers evil in its awful destructive aspects and its naughty aspects. In describing naughty evil, Hart's sense of humor ripens and the book has some delightful passages that made me laugh out loud.

I read the entire book in a couple of hours and it filled me with a desire to follow up the biblography and learn more about the pressing subject of evil.

Hart is to be commended for making reading about evil fun. He covers a lot of weighty scholarship in vivid delightful prose. For anyone looking for an introduction to the subject of evil, I cannot recommend a better book.

Hart has written a book that is both confectionary and substantial, a rare accomplishment.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fairly well researched summary of Evil - yet no answers, September 6, 2011

By 

dshoom - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Evil: A Primer: A History of a Bad Idea from Beelzebub to Bin Laden (Hardcover)

I does go through the the various quandaries about what Evil is? Investigates its possible etiological reasons including that of Evolutionary Psychology (EP) suggesting that it may be an unregulated primal survival behavior. Yet the book leaves us with more questions as to the real cause of Evil and also notes many since the days of recorded history people have pondered about it and given their version - so certainly this Evil business has been around and perplexed people over the generations and not a modern malaise; perhaps simple rooted in unaccommodating self love - its causative reasons still mixed in nature and nurture. Cain kills Abel - any ideas why? Reading this book will not help either. But all the same it covers the open ended details.
The fact is that Evil exists and it is up to us to manage it within our environments on a daily basis, with small everyday heroism, of standing up for what is right however inconvenient, before it becomes an unmanageable monstrosity as history has shown repeatedly and will repeat unless each one of use commits to actively managing Evil in every so small ways everyday in ourselves and others.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and thoughtful survey of evil, January 28, 2008

By 

DONALD G. FOX "Santee Sioux" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evil: A Primer: A History of a Bad Idea from Beelzebub to Bin Laden (Hardcover)

I found this lovely exploration of evil to be sincerely thoughtful and very interesting. True, the author is wise enough to point his readers towards possible sources and understandings of evil, but he would be foolhardy to pose a definitive answer as to why evil exists in the human experience. For those readers who are uncomfortable with having to balance the paradoxes of evil within human theologies, this definitely is a book that will be most unsatisfactory. If, however, you enjoy a good jaunt through many various areas of human thought and belief around the issues of evil, this book is sure to be amusing, informative, and intriguing. Mr. Hart's offers a solidly well-written book on a subject that is often ignored, hidden and denied by the fearful.