Reviews

The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime by Michael H. Stone, Gary Brucato

maxoliveira's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.5

elliebolouse's review against another edition

3.0

Unnecessarily descriptive, calls incestuous rape 'intercourse' while otherwise seemingly understanding what rape means, and doesn't allow room for lifestyle choices (being gothic) and choice of music to be normal. Or at least, no disclaimer is given when these subjects arise.

Unfortunate, because this book does have good points. Why was lead poisoning never considered though?

hectaizani's review against another edition

3.0

Similar to and mostly an update of [b:The Anatomy of Evil|6387180|The Anatomy of Evil|Michael H. Stone|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1365462799l/6387180._SX50_.jpg|6575423]. Still weird to hear a psychiatrist using the words evil and monster to describe persons with psychiatric disorders.

Mostly factual information about various criminals, including vivid descriptions of their crimes and victims, and what happened to them afterwards.

hastati1989's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.25

dannybailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

4.5

miss_icetastic's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

desert_side_notched's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

rschmidt7's review against another edition

1.0

Horrific. Wish I'd never read it. I thought the author would stick to his thesis--that certain acts of evil have increased since 1965--and would then go on to examine WHY. I imagined this might be an interesting take on certain social trends of the second half of the 20th century.

Instead, he simply presents a never-ending series of gratuitous descriptions of heinous acts, to the point where it seemed as though he was reveling in them. Even for a detached doctor as the author, the focus on specific vignettes was a bit much, and it made me wonder about the author himself.

He doesn't prove his thesis, and he doesn't dive any deeper into the "why" than he could've done in the blurb on the back of the book.

Also, in the chapter on school shooters, it is ridiculous to me that the author could go through all the many variations of evil and the complexities of shooter motivation, and then somehow still arrive at the stupidly facile conclusion that semiautomatic weapons are solely to blame. I wonder if the doctor is aware that semiautomatic weapons have been around since 1885. Clearly something else, or some many things, must account for the increase in shootings.

I couldn't finish the book, which is extremely rare for a me, but it was just too much. By the time I got to the A-Z chapter at the end, which just seemed like an excuse to squeeze in as many specific acts of evil as possible, I was done.

Do not recommend.

tallgurl's review against another edition

4.0

Not for the faint of heart.

theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Suicide, Pedophilia, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Trafficking, and Violence