Book Review: ‘Call It Evil,’ by Susan Neiman (Gift Article)

In her new book, the moral philosopher Susan Neiman says “evil” is the apt word for “a country where masked men deport people to wastelands they’ve never seen” and “a military that blows fishermen to bits with the meagerest of justifications.”

Worth reading & thinking about. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

“In a new book, Susan Neiman argues that by defining evil in terms of individual monstrousness we fail to perceive its widespread hold on our culture.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

I may need to read this book by Susan Neiman. A discussion of the slow motion moral decay and how to change directions . This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

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This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

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“What makes such #evil so destructive is that it has no depth, #Arendt said: ‘It can overgrow and lay waste to the world precisely because it spreads like a fungus on the surface’.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

Adding this to my reading list: “Call it Evil” Thought provoking This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

“This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World In a new book, Susan Neiman argues that by defining evil in terms of individual monstrousness we fail to perceive its widespread hold on our culture.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

#Evil www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

Evil can overgrow and lay waste to the world precisely because it spreads like a fungus on the surface. Evil is what you say when your jaw begins to drop if you sense that a line has been crossed. It’s not being used enough to save democracy and decency.

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

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"Our misunderstanding of evil has lulled us into complacency, so that we now take cruelty and corruption for granted. . . tribalism and an ideology of self-interest undermined our commitments to one another." The remedy? “Resolute universalism" & social democracy." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

“‘evil’ is the apt word for ‘a country where masked men deport people to wastelands they’ve never seen,’ as she puts it, or ‘a military that blows fishermen to bits with the meagerest of justifications.’” Yes, these policies are evil + require accountability www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

“evils she considered…common & more dangerous “making war to stay in power”; cutting aid to lower taxes on the rich” “Hannah Arendt’s concept of “the banality of evil” as especially useful.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

Neiman wants readers to think about evil in ways that are less spectacular and more systemic. She cites Hannah Arendt’s concept of “the banality of evil.” Writing about Adolf Eichmann, Arendt said: “It can overgrow and lay waste to the world precisely because it spreads like a fungus on the surface”

Call it evil, because it is evil: Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

Times, Jennifer Szalai review of new, relevant book by Susan Neiman:

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b... EVIL: “a country where masked men deport people to wastelands they’ve never seen"...“ military blows fishermen to bits w the meagerest of justifications.”

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...

This Philosopher Thinks It’s Time We Call Out Evil in Our World www.nytimes.com/2026/09/09/b...