Two profound atrocities in the history of Western culture form the subject of this moving philosophical exploration: American Slavery and the Holocaust. An African American and a Jew, Laurence Mordekhai Thomas denounces efforts to place the suffering of one group above the other. Rather, he pronounces these two defining historical experiences as profoundly evil in radically different ways and points to their logically incompatible aims. The author begins with a discussion of the nature of evil, exploring the fragility of human beings and the phenomena of compartmentalizing, unquestioning obedience to authority, and moral drift. Citing compelling examples from history and contemporary life, he characterizes evil acts in terms of moral agency, magnitude, and intent. With moving testimony, Thomas depicts the moral pain of African Americans and Jews during their ordeals and describes how their past as victims has affected their future. Without invidious comparison, he distinguishes between extermination and domination, death and natal alienation, physical and mental cruelty, and between being viewed as irredeemable evil and as a moral simpleton. Thomas also considers the role of blacks and Jews in the Christian narrative. In "Vessels of Evil", Thomas also considers the ways Jews and blacks have gone on to survive. He analyzes the relative flourishing of Jews and the languishing of blacks in this country and examines the implications of their dissimilar tragedies on any future relationship between these two minorities. Laurence Mordekhai Thomas, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science Affiliate at Syracuse University, is also the author of "Living Morally" (Temple).
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"This text is an admirably lucid and cogently argued comparison of two profoundly evil institutions, one that recognizes the differences between the Jewish and African American experiences of oppression without offering invidious comparisons.... An important and engrossing book."
—Publishers Weekly
—Publishers Weekly
"...a readable, even absorbing philosophical examination of the many faces of evil....This study deserves a wide readership."
—Library Journal
"This rich and interesting work is an important contribution to the philosophical study of moral psychology. Although a number of philosophers have explored moral issues raised by the Holocaust or by American Slavery, so far as I know, Thomas is the first important philosopher to undertake a large-scale comparison of the two."
—David Blumenthal, Professor of Philosophy, Georgia State University
—David Blumenthal, Professor of Philosophy, Georgia State University
From the Publisher
A philosopher examines the moral evils visited upon African Americans and Jews
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful resource in the discussion of obligation & society,
By A Customer
This review is from: Vessels of Evil: American Slavery and the Holocaust (Paperback)
Vessels of Evil requires the reader to fully develop and rationalize the concepts of obligation and duty as they relate to societal interaction. The book transcends the traditional struggle between right and wrong in society to focus attention on the real debate - what is expected of an individual vs. what would be considered merely "a nice thing for one to do." The result is a resource for formulating concise, detailed, and analytical justifications for one's views.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Profound and illuminating discourse on how ordinary people come to do evil,
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This review is from: Vessels of Evil: American Slavery and the Holocaust (Paperback)
Vessels of Evil examines how ordinary people come to do evil. The book uses two enormous and well-documented cases in point-- American slavery and the Holocaust. (A few clueless individuals have objected to "comparisons" between the two cases. Had they actually read the book, they would appreciate the author's clear and extensive disclaimer that these are two outstanding cases in which many ordinary people came to do evil, and that no other similarity between the two cases is expressed or implied. One can only role one's eyes and shrug upon reading such misguided reviews.)Prof. Thomas's writing is lucid and graceful, and I found his reasoning and conclusions generally compelling. It is a short book, but (as my son remarked on his first experience with a serious work of philosophy) "you have to read every word." It does not reward skimming.
1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Canard,
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This review is from: Vessels of Evil: American Slavery and the Holocaust (Paperback)
One simple bit of data disproves this book. No one has ever claimed that the population of Africa decreased due to the depredations of the slave trade, but the population of Ireland was 8,000,000 in 1848, and is now just over 4,000,000. That is genocide. The slave trade was a brutal, callous, inhuman commercial transaction, that eventually created a vital new population in a New World.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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moral disassociation, contributory pride, invisibility thesis, complete social silence, certain moral gravity, affirming cooperation, moral bivalence, ordinary moral decency, moral simpletons, excusable envy, thoroughly evil person, full imprimatur, morally decent person, moral drift, folk morality, natal alienation, moral audience, moral incongruity, moral baseline, alienating institutions, societal hostility, group affirmation, pornographic theater, human beings arc, group autonomy Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
American Slavery, United States, New York, The Moral Community, The Human Condition, After the Ashes, Middle Town, Psychology of Doubling, Nazi Germany, Oxford University Press, Characterizing Evil, Uncle Tom, Basic Books, Six Day War, Harvard University Press, Frederick Douglass, Yale University, Evian Conference, Thomas Jefferson, Cambridge University Press, Two Faces of Evil, Harriet Jacobs, New Haven, Christian America, Colonel Lloyd Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
moral disassociation, contributory pride, invisibility thesis, complete social silence, certain moral gravity, affirming cooperation, moral bivalence, ordinary moral decency, moral simpletons, excusable envy, thoroughly evil person, full imprimatur, morally decent person, moral drift, folk morality, natal alienation, moral audience, moral incongruity, moral baseline, alienating institutions, societal hostility, group affirmation, pornographic theater, human beings arc, group autonomy Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
American Slavery, United States, New York, The Moral Community, The Human Condition, After the Ashes, Middle Town, Psychology of Doubling, Nazi Germany, Oxford University Press, Characterizing Evil, Uncle Tom, Basic Books, Six Day War, Harvard University Press, Frederick Douglass, Yale University, Evian Conference, Thomas Jefferson, Cambridge University Press, Two Faces of Evil, Harriet Jacobs, New Haven, Christian America, Colonel Lloyd Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
39
books
cite this book:
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- Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth-Century America (Cultural Margins) by Adam Zachary Newton in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil by Claudia Card in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Blacks and Jews in Literary Conversation (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) by Emily Miller Budick in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Christian Faith and the Problem of Evil by Peter Van Inwagen on page 281, and page 313
- Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality (Moral Traditions series) by Andrew M. Flescher on page 162, and Back Matter
See all 39 books citing this book
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