| Summary: | "A startling new theory that proposes for the first time that evil may be understood empirically, as a type of physical and mental behaviour." "Analysing this behaviour chiefly in terms of over one hundred major films, as well as literature, painting, psychology, law, philosophy and history, Oppenheimer argues that evil contains predictable, specific ingredients. It also takes place within a highly specialised landscape, in which its massive violence, its diabolical self-consciousness and its impersonal selection of victims may develop with impunity. Evil is thus a demonstrable fact: by understanding its nature we can diagnose its specific manifestations in mass murder, genocide and serial killings." "The book crisscrosses a variety a cinematic and literary genres in developing its evidence. It considers such familiar films as Persona, The Silence of the Lambs, Brazil and Performance, while from literature it draws upon such works as Richard III, Oedipus the King and The Picture of Dorian Gray."--Jacket
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