Category: Evil

I debated more about creating this category than any other. There are some books that don’t seem to fit well anywhere else, but which seem critical for our leaders to read. In trying to think of what category I could create that would sum of their themes, all I could think of was that they describe what depths of evil humanity is possible of sinking to. And since we are doomed to re-experience those evils we do not remember, I think it of no small importance to desire that our leaders be well aware of the evil that lurks in the hearts of certain men so that the repetition of events such as the Holocaust or the genocide in Rwanda is avoided.

  1. Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza

    Reviewed by: Joshua Steimle on July 16th, 2010 Categories: Evil Comments: 0

    From Publishers Weekly
    Starred Review. In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda’s Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor’s tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza’s experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza’s remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of … Read the rest of this entry »

  2. Night by Elie Wiesel

    Reviewed by: Joshua Steimle on July 16th, 2010 Categories: Evil Comments: 0

    General Description (from Amazon.com)
    In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life’s essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel’s lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

    Why the President Should Read This Book
    If it is true that those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it, then a thorough education of the Holocaust should be high up on the reading list of our world leaders. Such books as Night serve to remind us what evil humans are capable of, even humans who are well-educated and by all appearances far from being what we would refer to as “savages”. How was it that a country rich with culture and refinement was able to produce a well-organized operation … Read the rest of this entry »