In the new and expanded edition of "The Evil of Banality," Elizabeth Minnich argues for a tragic yet hopeful explanation of "extensive evil," her term for systematic, normalized harm-doing on the scale of genocide, slavery, sexualized dominance.
The book now includes a new preface, new chapter, and expanded afterword addressing ongoing extensive evils, the paradox of lying, and the importance of developing the thinking without which conscience remains mute.
So how can there be hope? Such evils are neither mysterious nor demonic. If we avoid romanticizing both the worst and best of which humans are capable, we can recognize and say no to extensive evil, practice and sustain extensive good, where they must take root - in ordinary lives.
Elizabeth Minnich received her doctorate from the Graduate Faculty of The New School under the direction of Hannah Arendt, whom she served as teaching assistant. Following twenty-five years as professor at the Union Institute, she was appointed Distinguished Fellow, President's Office, the American Association of Colleges and Universities.
