The Anatomy of Evil

by Michael H. Stone MD

Overview

FROM NARCISSISM TO AGGRESSION, AN ORIGINAL LOOK AT THE PERSONALITY TRAITS AND BEHAVIORS THAT CONSTITUTE EVIL In this groundbreaking book, renowned psychiatrist Michael H. Stone explores the concept and reality of evil from a new perspective. In an in-depth discussion of the personality traits and behaviors that constitute evil across a wide spectrum, Dr. Stone takes a clarifying scientific approach to a topic that for centuries has been inadequately explained by religious doctrines. Stone has created a 22-level hierarchy of evil behavior, which loosely reflects the structure of Dante's Inferno. Basing his analysis on the detailed biographies of more than 600 violent criminals, hetraces two salient personality traits that run the gamut from those who commit crimes of passion to perpetrators of sadistic torture and murder. One trait is narcissism, as exhibited in people who are so self-centered that they have little or no ability to care about their victims. The other is aggression, the use of power over another person to inflict humiliation, suffering, and death. What do psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience tell us about the minds of those whose actions could be described as evil? And what will that mean for the rest of us? Stone discusses how an increased understanding of the causes of evil will affect the justice system. He predicts a day when certain persons can safely be declared salvageable and restored to society and when early signs of violence in children may be corrected before potentially dangerous patterns become entrenched.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633883352
Publisher:	Prometheus Books
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	66,477
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michael H. Stone, MD is professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is the author of ten books, most recently Personality Disorders: Treatable and Untreatable, and over two hundred professional articles and book chapters. From 2006 to 2008, he was the host of Discovery Channel's series Most Evil and has been featured in the New York Times, Psychology Today, the Christian Science Monitor, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, the London Times, the BBC, and Newsday, among many other media outlets.

Read an Excerpt

From the Epilogue
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Anatomy of Evil"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Michael H. Stone.
Excerpted by permission of Prometheus Books.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction....................9
Chapter One Evil in Peacetime....................27
Chapter Two Crimes of Impulse: Murders of Jealousy and Rage....................53
Chapter Three Other Crimes of Impulse: Emphasis on Antisocial Persons....................85
Chapter Four Murder on Purpose: The Psychopathic Schemers....................115
Chapter Five Spree and Mass Murder: Evil by the Numbers....................141
Chapter Six The Psychopath Hard at Work....................165
Chapter Seven Serial Killers and Torturers....................195
Chapter Eight The Family at Its Worst....................243
Chapter Nine Science Looks at Evil....................285
Final Thoughts....................331
Afterword by Dr. Otto F. Kernberg....................357
Acknowledgments....................361
Notes....................363
Index....................405

Editorial Reviews

"True crime readers and those interested in learning more about the possible motivations of torturers and deranged killers will want to give this a look....The nature of the crimes, the sheer depth of evil makes this as terrifying a read as any thriller and worse, the villains are real." —Monsters and Critics.com “Psychiatrist Stone...provides an etymology of evil with case studies of over 600 violent criminals, giving readers a comprehensive picture of the nature and varieties of human evil.... useful to those seeking the neurological and psychiatric reasons people commit ’evil’ crimes." —Library Journal  “This book is well researched and thorough, and Dr. Stone hopes that it will help us understand and judge the criminals whose criminal impulses cause such terrible suffering." —Sacramento Book Review “This excellent study of evil and forensic psychiatry will be valuable to anyone interested in why people commit evil acts. Recommended. All readers." —Choice “This is a very readable book...these pages prompted a good deal of reflection and conversation. In this spirit, I would recommend the book to you."—American Journal of Psychiatry

From the Publisher