Customer Reviews

How Evil Works: Understanding and Overcoming the Destructive Forces That Are Transforming America

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

*****
This book is a follow up to the author's previous book, "The Marketing of Evil", which I haven't read. You can read this book without having read the former; I can say that it stands alone as a provocative and challenging book that will appeal to people, primarily Christians, with a strong conservative world view. I am NOT one of those people (I am a more liberal, moderate Christian) but despite my beliefs, I found it interesting, compelling, and convicting. I have to admit that it made me think and perhaps reconsider some of my views, many of which I can now see are heavily influenced by my culture. This is a very, very controversial book as it is Bible-based, coming from a thoroughly Christian world-view, patriotic, pro-capitalism, anti-global warming, and pro-life. Many people will see these biases as negative or naive or even dangerous, and if that is you, this may not be the book for you. If however, you are a Christian, and you are curious as to how your stand on these things and many others relate to the concept of evil, deception, and truth, you will be fascinated by the book; I certainly was. If you are a liberal Christian and are open-minded to understanding a more intelligent presentation of conservative faith, I think you will find much to like here as well.

The author's premise is that we don't understand the mechanism of evil and how it works in American society today. He demonstrates how he sees evil working using examples from current events, science, and psychology, and of course, many Biblical references. The book is heavily footnoted and has a very detailed index. I especially appreciate the index because this book is one that I will think about and refer back to again and again, and look up examples the author discussed. This is a book I definitely want to discuss with others.

The book includes chapters focusing on diverse topics including: the failure of marriages, what the author calls "sexual anarchy", terrorism, neopaganism, the overuse of psychiatric prescription drugs, militant atheism, the demise of fatherhood and education for boys, celebrity culture, the power of hate, and so much more. It is well organized and contains convincing arguments that make the author's central point that we are corrupted by anti-biblical philosophies and societal confusion and that, as Christians, we lack courage and moral clarity. I think that he makes his point well and I have to agree with him. It made me want to become braver and it helped me to become clearer on what I really do believe. It helped me to see deception and yes, even evil, in many of the arguments for situational ethics and moral relativism. The author explained how many of the politically correct views we have today are based upon things like pride, a need for approval, and even narcissism. He demonstrates this in a powerful way. Unlike some conservative books that are more like rants or screeds, this book is calm and based upon reasoning---still, it is like a wake-up call for Christians. It certainly was a wake-up call for me.

The book discusses the remedy for cultural disarray--authentic Christian faith--which looks pretty different from the lifestyle of the typical American Christian. He interprets Bible passages that make sense to me in light of the times, and in a way that is not hateful, ugly, and judgmental. He calls evil "evil" which is a pretty brave and hard thing to do, especially in a way that is caring, concerned, and even loving. He makes the point often that the truth can be hard, but that it doesn't make it any less true, and he demonstrates this well, I think. It is a modern book for a modern time.

I don't want to be too over-the-top here, but this book was life-transforming for me. If you are ready for this, buy the book.

Highly recommended.
*****

I'd heard about this book and found a sample for the Kindle. I didn't even finish the sample before I knew I wanted to own this book. I bought the Kindle version and didn't put it down. I plan to buy a paper version of this book as well. I want it on my bookshelf.
The book is written from a conservative Christan point of view but I believe it will appeal to other groups as well. The author cites his sources throughout the book, which I found added weight to his argument.
He writes about our downfall from humanity and why it is happening and what we can do to stop it. The book touches on many subjects that are important to our day to day freedoms. His explanations of human nature really made sense to me and explained a lot about why we find our world as it is today.
He uses religion throughout the book but I took much more from the book than that. This is one of those books that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

I just finished reading this book yesterday and had a hard time putting it down. However, the chapter on Rejecting God really made me sad because I am someone who has a close relationship with God and am a diehard Conservative Republican. You will not see this book as controversial if you are someone like me who is a Christian close to God and does notice all the satanic evil in the current world (i.e. in regards to our corrupt Government and the narcisstic leader in the White House who continues to thrive on all the lies he continues to tell the American people, self-absorbed celebrities, how people are addicted to anything related to sex, etc.) I love the fact that this author uses bible verses from the bible because I would question whether I should read it otherwise. If you are someone who believes in fighting for our God-given human rights, preserving our constitution written by our forefathers, advocate of capitalism rather than socialism (pure evil in intself), do not support the theory that we are faced with a global warming crisis (this is just the current administrations ploy to take more of our hard earned money by taxing us), and are against abortion then I highly recommend you read this book. I already knew there was alot of evil in the world and this book just proves my point. I also do not see this book as a threat to anyone as long as you have an open mind and are able to realize there are clearly some destructive forces in our country that are transforming our nation. I do not see this book being for someone who is out of touch in the world and/or someone who does not like to read Christian-based books (the best ones to read these days since God is truly the one and only savior we can trust in this evil world).

I totally support all the information this book points out about the current nefarious president of the United States and is very accurate in their information. I knew this book had a chapter about the government and why politicians lie which is the main reason that sold me on reading this book. This book definitely proves to be an eye-opener if someone is oblivious to the evil in our world. I can really appreciate this author's last chapter of the book about turning the tables on evil in America. If we as a nation care about protecting ourselves, our future way of life and other people in the world it is high time we rid our country of all the evil or our country will likely be doomed forever.

This is the most thought-provoking current events book I've ever read; far and away the best book of the 21st century so far. If you're confused by all the chaos around us today and don't know what to think, this book will help you to crystallize your thoughts and beliefs.

If you hate God, hate morality, hate liberty - you, like some other reviewers, will probably not care for the message in this book; it will hit way too close to home. However, if you are a mature, intelligent person, there are many topics within the book worthy of your consideration and attention.

Kupelian doesn't make it about left-wing and right-wing, men and women, heterosexual and homosexual; he makes it about being godly or being godless; doing good or doing evil. He writes in a loving, yet firm style that makes the truth of his message shine out.

This book will lead to far more interesting discussions around the water cooler than the plot of last night's episode of "24."

If you don't believe evil exists, don't even bother looking at this book. This is a handbook for those who want a better understanding on how evil manages to slither around and ruin our lives. The author provides plenty of specifics. At the end of the book we are given some ideas on how to deal with the evil we encounter.
Some chapters are better than most. One of the best explains how we continue to elect liars to public office. Another good chapter is "The Mysterious Power of Hate".
The author is unashamedly Christian even though he points out the weakness of today's religions. This is one of the book's strengths. Worth a second read.

I view the slaughter of over 1,000,000 Armenian Christians by the Turks as evil.
I view the British genocide camps that destroyed over 200,000 Boer women and children as evil.
I view Jewish Holocaust as evil...Cambodia Killing fields, Rwanda machete
massacre of 500,000+ Tutsis, etc...EVIL.

If you agree, we might be able to have a dialog. Unfortunately, I debated
Socialist Workers Party members in 1979 who considered the mass killings
in Cambodia as necessary to create: "A New Socialist Man and Woman" and
were petitioning the UN and Prez Carter to intervene.

I talked with Red Chinese in NYC before they had a seat in the UN and asked
about the 60,000,000 plus people slaughtered by Mao AFTER Mao had kicked
the Nationionalist Chinese out of China in 1949 (1949-61). "CIA Lie! CIA Lie! said one of these ChiCom reps: "We ONLY killed 25,000,000." (smirk, smirk, ha, ha!)

"We must destroy America's children," said the National Education Association
lobbyist (PAID Lobbyist) in 1993.

WHY?

"Because the US is a Capitalist Nation," answered this lobbyist whom I'll
call Ms. Claus because of her sweet granmotherly appearance. "Destroy
America's children and eventually you'll destroy Capitalist America."

"Uh, what is capitalism?" I ask.

"It's a political-economic system that exploits the workers, pollutes
the environment, etc..." Standard Socialist talking points where she
sets up her own definition of her opponent (Straw Man Attack) then attacks
her definition.

"So, why did so many people die in the Socialist Paradises of Soviet Union,
Red China, Cambodia...Why were hundreds of thousands of square miles
in the Soviet Union destroyed by nuclear pollution, industrial pollution,
horribly enept farming and forestry techniques?" I ask.
_______________________________________

Since 1993, I have a litmus test for determining if a person or politician is evil:
"Milwaukee has a taxpayer funded school voucher program that currently
has over 22,000 children in it who use $5,000 per child per year vouchers
to attend Private or Parochial schools. Government Public schools currently
charge about $10,000 per child per year. This program saves Milwaukee
taxpayers over $110,000,000 per year, empowers parents, educates poor income
Blacks and other minorities.

In other words: Send a poor Black child to a violent, academically inferior
Government Public School for $10,000 per child per year or send that same
poor Black Child to a nurturing Private or Parochial school for $5,000 per
child per year?

Obama: "Send that child to the violent, academically inferior Public School."

I consider Obama to be evil? Do you? Comments?

A great book that describes the human condition. Loved it. The truth really hurts the liberal cause. Once you understand the condition of man you get why Obama wants to take over companies that make money and employ people like me and you. He wants control and power over america. scary huh! Read and enjoy.

If you believe a-priori that good and evil exist, you will see in this book a demonstrable repeating pattern of methods of evil carefully described. Sadly, the implementors of evil haven't any idea that they are, in fact, on the side of wrong, destruction, and the demise of others. If you simply read the detractors who are commenting on this book, (most have never read it), you can see up close the nature of evil right here on the comments section of this book! I have seen these methods at work in my own family for years. Those members who are truly implementing evil actually believe they are doing good. But evil is monstrously illusive and deceptive...greater than any human mind to be sure.

A truly terrific book, very honest and politically incorrect - just the kind of honest assessment that we must be willing to make if we are to deal with the progressive and secular humanist cancers destroying modern society and, ultimately, mankind. The book ties its points to our greatest source of strength and guidance - The Bible - and relies on our Judeo-Christian faiths and laws as the foundation for its arguments then artfully brings in many other supporting points to build upon that basis. This book will be tremendously uncomfortable for the universalist or the secular humanist or the atheist. It lays bear the evil that underpins those movements and that of many other cults which have come to be regarded as religions in modern society. I'm sure that there will be many who hate this book because of their hatred of Christianity and of God's rules and of Christ's sacrifice for our salvation; but even if you aren't a religious person, especially if you aren't, this book may spark further thought and hopefully prayer that could lead to change in you. One of the hardest things is to see and accept just how flawed, fallen and sick mankind - all of mankind - is, this book puts the mirror to our society's face and for that act alone it is an important work. I recommend this book unequivicably, just as I recommend his earlier book The Marketing of Evil. Read with an open mind and heart and see what truths are revealed when the scales fall from your eyes.

Enlighening far beyond what I expected - encouraging in that if you understand the core and intent of evil you can protect yourself and your family from IT!!