Despite the human race's extraordinary capacity for invention and progress, we clearly have a millennia-old blind spot in one all-important area: We don't understand evil -- what it is, how it works, and why it so routinely and effortlessly ruins our lives. Put another way, we don't understand ourselves. David Kupelian, the bestselling author of The Marketing of Evil , probes the ancient question of evil through a modern journalist's eye, once again demonstrating his uncanny knack for demystifying complex, elusive, and intimidating subjects with fresh insights into the hidden mechanisms of seduction, corruption, and power politics. Diving into today's most electrifying news stories -- from terrorism and school shootings to high-profile sex scandals and political dysfunction -- Kupelian explores such profoundly troubling questions as: - How does terrorism really work? - Why are New Age religions becoming so popular? - Why do so many celebrities who "have it all" -- talent, fame, good looks, wealth, adoration -- end up self-destructing? - Why are big lies more believable than little ones? - Why are boys doing worse in school today than girls? - Why do we treat mental, emotional, and spiritual problems, like anger and depression, with drugs? Here's the good news: Once we really understand "how evil works" -- not just in the disasters and mega-crimes that dominate the headlines, but in our own lives as well -- evil actually loses much of its power over us, and the way out becomes more clear. Thus, How Evil Works bears a powerful message of genuine hope.