YouÆve heard of the ôGreat Booksö? These are their evil opposites. From MachiavelliÆs The Prince to Karl MarxÆs The Communist Manifesto to Alfred KinseyÆs Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, these ôinfluentialö books have led to war, genocide, totalitarian oppression, family breakdown, and disastrous social experiments. And yet these authorsÆ bad ideas are still popular and pervasiveùin fact, they might influence your own thinking without your realizing it. Here with the antidote is Professor Benjamin Wiker. In this scintillating new book, he seizes each of these evil books by its malignant heart and exposes it to the light of day.

ôBenjamin Wiker has read the worst books in Western civilization so you donÆt have to. In this sprightly, witty, engaging survey of bad guys ranging from Marx to Hitler, Nietzsche to Betty Friedan, Professor WikerÆs poison pen portraits are great critical aids to analyzing some of the worst ideas that have ever contaminated Western civilization. Professor Wiker recommends actually reading the booksùbut his own book is a whole lot more fun.ö ùThomas E. Woods, Ph.D.., author of How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilizatio