Among the most perplexing reactions to the endless acts of violence, terror, and war in the 20th and 21st centuries is the attempt by some to explain the brutality in geo-political or sociobiological terms. Author Lance Morrow takes these thinkers to task in his powerful and provocative Evil: An Investigation. While Morrow recognizes the need to try to understand these acts, he ultimately asserts that no explanation can meliorate the fact that in essence, they are evil. Acknowledging that evil can never be fully defined, Morrow attempts to place that elusive, human impulse into a 21st-century context. Morrow believes that "A certain flippancy about evil" flourishes in times of peace and prosperity. Therefore, he contends, "A lively awareness of evil. . . must be re-installed in the West" in this post-September 11 world. Throughout the book, Morrow peppers his numerous micro-examples (murder or spiteful office politics) and macro-examples (war, genocide, or terrorism) with thought-provoking and often unanswerable questions: "Is there any such thing as an objective standard of evil?. . . If evil becomes permissible, is it still evil?" Do we sometimes have to commit evil for the greater good? The strength of this book lies in Morrow's powerful intellect, the range of his discussion, and the ease with which he makes this difficult, enigmatic concept accessible. His investigation casts a wide net, and he poses some of his most challenging questions in regard to American culture. His examples, sometimes drawn from his experience as a journalist, span history--from WWI to the present, with particular focus on WWII and Stalinist Russia--and his insights are always persuasive. Like all good teachers, Morrow provides few definitive answers. He admits, "There is no evidence that evil can be extinguished." But despite this sobering thought, he maintains that we must never give up hope. Evil will always exist, but only with hope, love, and conscience, will it, at least, be held at bay. --Silvana Tropea


From Publishers Weekly
In Heart, a memoir centering on his heart attacks, Morrow asked questions about the nature of evil as it relates to illness and death. This foray into evil generally is a thing of snippets rather than sustained case building. Morrow, author of more than 150 Time cover stories, begins by responding to a variety of events, some of them on the scale of the Holocaust and September 11, others more modest, such as several particularly gruesome murders and the shootings at Columbine, trying to grasp where evil inheres. He then wanders through a mass of heartfelt but turgid sentiments, from which it is possible to extract a few conclusions about his opinions: evil exists; people may be evil; deeds may be evil even when people are not; there are degrees of evil, great and small, justifiable and unjustifiable. Franz Fanon's liberation-through-violence ideology and the cult of the Marquis de Sade are evil, for Morrow, and so are thinkers who praise either. And so on. The book rises above this level occasionally, as in his portrait of several individuals who resist classification, and supports another conclusion: that we have to talk about evil. At other times, Morrow descends to the level of mere name-dropping, as in his portrayal of a Stockholm conference on international violence. One can extract from this book a reasonably favorable opinion of Morrow's thoughtfulness and personal ethics, but he does not offer much exploration in the direction of possible solutions, nor has he been rigorous in sifting his reflections for lucidity. Anybody who wants to keep up on impassioned screeds in pop ethics will find something to like here, but much religious thought on the matter, to take one example, goes undiscussed. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Morrow, a columnist with Time magazine, offers a compelling look at how our concepts of evil have changed over the ages, influenced by literature, history, culture, technology, and, of course, religion. He explores the elusive qualities of evil and how difficult it is to define. He avows that most of us would apply Justice Potter Stewart's test of pornography--we know it when we see it. Morrow recalls evil deeds and doers from Caligula to Hitler and the Holocaust to the terrorism and "axis of evil" that is President Bush's current focus. Evil is most often closely identified with the "other," leading to violence against women accused of witchcraft or ethnic minorities. Drawing on stories he has heard or covered as a reporter, including conversations about serial killers and shocking discoveries about the neighbors next door, Morrow examines the subject on micro and macro levels, as a part of human nature, as a necessity for providing the world's "narrative energy," and as a counterpoint to good. Morrow's writing is elegant and conversational, like talking to a thoughtful, learned friend as he discusses how concepts of evil have evolved through history, politics, literature, and mundane daily life. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


- The Richmond Times-Dispatch
"Lance Morrow's Evil belongs at the top of the must-read lists."


- Boston Herald
"A foray over a slippery slope where theologians and philosophers have often tumbled in the effort to define 'evil.'"


- The Washington Post Book World
"An honest meditation... Morrow is a master of the think piece."


Book Description
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, evil remains as potent and radical a force in the world as it has ever been. We all know evil when we encounter it-in the villains of history like Hitler and Stalin, in the routine brutality that makes the nightly news, in the hateful violence of terrorists and sociopaths -but the phenomenon of evil has long resisted explanation. In this singular survey of this mysterious but all too often palpable force, veteran Time magazine essayist Lance Morrow offers a sustained look at the unmistakable ways evil manifests itself in history and in the human heart. This is a provocative meditation on the role evil plays in shaping human history, a timely analysis of how this primitive force can be understood in a modern society of high-tech, sensationalized brutality, and a daring exploration of why evil may be necessary in the world.


About the Author
Lance Morrow has written more than 150 cover stories for Time, where he has worked since 1965. The author of several books, including The Heart, The Chief, and Fishing in the Tiber, he is a University Professor at Boston University, and lives in Chatham, New York.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Drawing on examples both obscure and splashed across the front page, Morrow asks if, ultimately, we can understand evil - or if we even should. From Caligula to Columbine to his encounter with Milosevic, Morrow's stories are drawn from over thirty years of experience as a revered journalist and essayist. The result is a synthesis of a lifetime of observation that illuminates the chronically elusive, endlessly fascinating paradox that is evil.

SYNOPSIS

Time magazine essayist Morrow has been writing about evil for over a decade now, and remains convinced that it cannot be understood. That does not mean it cannot be written about, however, and he offers 24 examples that illuminate it in the modern world. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Evil is a most elusive subject, and Morrow knows better than to take it head-on. He is a well-established writer for Time, and this book has something of that magazine's breezy eclecticism. Citations run from Jean Cocteau to John Wayne; from Samantha Power to Slobodan Milosevic; from William James to William Buckley. As one would expect in a consideration of evil, Hannah Arendt is here, but so is Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, the South African psychologist whose encounter with a torturer nicknamed ''Prime Evil'' is the perfect counterpoint to Arendt's encounter with Eichmann. — James Carroll

The Washington Post

A longtime writer for Time magazine, Morrow is a master of the think piece, and his 34 chapters, some only a few pages long, adhere to that journalistic model. They use an anecdote...or a literary reference...to raise the big questions...Morrow is never less than engaging...—David Heim

Publishers Weekly

In Heart, a memoir centering on his heart attacks, Morrow asked questions about the nature of evil as it relates to illness and death. This foray into evil generally is a thing of snippets rather than sustained case building. Morrow, author of more than 150 Time cover stories, begins by responding to a variety of events, some of them on the scale of the Holocaust and September 11, others more modest, such as several particularly gruesome murders and the shootings at Columbine, trying to grasp where evil inheres. He then wanders through a mass of heartfelt but turgid sentiments, from which it is possible to extract a few conclusions about his opinions: evil exists; people may be evil; deeds may be evil even when people are not; there are degrees of evil, great and small, justifiable and unjustifiable. Franz Fanon's liberation-through-violence ideology and the cult of the Marquis de Sade are evil, for Morrow, and so are thinkers who praise either. And so on. The book rises above this level occasionally, as in his portrait of several individuals who resist classification, and supports another conclusion: that we have to talk about evil. At other times, Morrow descends to the level of mere name-dropping, as in his portrayal of a Stockholm conference on international violence. One can extract from this book a reasonably favorable opinion of Morrow's thoughtfulness and personal ethics, but he does not offer much exploration in the direction of possible solutions, nor has he been rigorous in sifting his reflections for lucidity. Anybody who wants to keep up on impassioned screeds in pop ethics will find something to like here, but much religious thought on the matter, to take one example, goes undiscussed. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews