Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era

"The philosopher Susan Neiman’s new book, Call It Evil: Understanding the Trump Era, is a useful companion to Profiles in Cowardice. Like [Jacob] Weisberg, Neiman wanted to explain why so many institutions caved to Trump. She believes it begins with an ethos that disdains virtue as hypocritical or naïve."
― Michelle Goldberg, New York Times

"Possibly the best book title of 2026, I couldn’t agree more with philosopher Susan Neiman’s rehabilitation of the word evil, a very useful and necessary descriptor for the times we are living through. Setting millennia of moral philosophy against the livestreamed degradations of the 21st century, Neiman calls it as she sees it, and in so doing traces the dark path that has led us to this evil moment in history."
― Jonny Diamond, Literary Hub

"Susan Neiman argues that the Trump era demands a word most of us have been trained to avoid: evil. Not the gothic, tabloid kind, but something more dangerous―the now-common conviction that self-interest is the only real human motive and power is all that matters. Tracing how this cynical worldview got to be called ‘common sense,’ Neiman shows why naming it is the first step toward defeating it."
― Daniel Kehlmann, author of The Director

"Susan Neiman’s new book is a revelation―not just a cry of outrage at an immoral American political administration but a cry of outrage at an entire postwar order and its wicked premises: profit, power, and the punishment of the most vulnerable."
― James Wood, author of Serious Noticing

"Susan Neiman isn’t afraid to use moral language while we, still shocked by today’s United States, are tempted to sane-wash. But Neiman is stronger, and she says the absolutely right word: evil. Her word bites, as it also sets us back on the road to justice."
― Nell Irvin Painter, author of I Just Keep Talking

"In a book that is as brilliant as it is bracing, Susan Neiman takes on one of the most fraught of all concepts: evil. The term has been appropriated by those who practice it―a justification for atrocity. But as Neiman reveals in this wonderfully readable and passionately urgent anatomy of the present crisis, those who believe in democracy, law, and morality have to take it back. Call It Evil shows us not just why we should do it but how."
― Fintan O’Toole, author of We Don’t Know Ourselves

"In an age of mealy-mouthed capitulation, Susan Neiman brings bracing moral clarity, erudition and deep thinking to the problem of how to define evil and what to do about it."
― Joseph Stiglitz, author of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society

"Many describe Donald Trump as evil. Susan Nieman, one of philosophy’s reigning experts on evil, affirms that judgment. In lucid prose, she explains how the unfounded view that narrow self-interest drives all behavior has spawned not just Trump but nearly every other serious threat we face."
― Robert H. Frank, author of Passions Within Reason

"How have we fallen so far, so fast? Susan Neiman's brilliant, brave book offers a moral diagnosis without moralizing, explains why, when, and how cynicism corroded our politics, and lights the way to a more hopeful future. This is philosophy in action, and we've never needed it more."
― Lorraine Daston

"This is not a book about Donald Trump; it is about the conditions that have allowed him to prevail. Neiman has tackled the subject of evil before…but never as compellingly and comprehensively as here…Every sentence is worth reading in this compelling book. For readers who are horrified and want to understand how we got here, this book is an absolute must."
― Library Journal (starred review)

"[A] potent treatise…Defining evil as ‘an idea that arises whenever the gap between the way the world is and the way the world ought to be becomes too big to bear,’ Neiman forcefully argues that the Trump administration warrants the term’s usage…The result is a clarifying reflection on the current moment’s profound crisis of conscience."
― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[A] probing cultural critique…The author effectively challenges American self-boosterism (“every survey of wealthy countries shows the U.S. behind on any measure of well-being”) and convincingly defends Enlightenment thought…Neiman movingly evokes Albert Einstein’s democratic socialism as a model for moral renewal today… Advocates a return to moral universalism as a panacea for an erosion of values."
― Kirkus Reviews