"The Lucifer Effect will change forever the way you think about why we behave the way we do--and, in particular, about the human potential for evil. This is a disturbing book, but one that has never been more necessary."

— Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

"Dr Zimbardo has done a magnificent job in providing a deep, well-documented analyses of the issue of torture and how it gravitated to Abu Ghraib and other military-run prisons. Congress should use his analyses to understand this administration's penchant to utilize torture supposedly to help protect our Nation, yet in doing so contradicts the same values that advance democracy around the world."

— Antonio Taguba, Major General, US Army Retired

“Professor Zimbardo deserves heartfelt thanks for disclosing and illuminating the dark, hidden corners of the human soul.”

— Václav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic

“This is a book for our times, a multilayered classic. What is truly remarkable is its blending of sensitive personal exploration, brilliant social-psychological analysis, and sustained ethical passion.”

— Robert Jay Lifton, author of The Nazi Doctors and Superpower Syndrome

“If there has been a more important and compelling book written in the last twenty-five years, I’ve not encountered it. Phil Zimbardo’s engaging and beautifully written tour de force uncovers the sources of evil—big and small. The Lucifer Effect accomplishes more than simply making the darkness visible; it also helps to make lightness possible. It is crucial reading for everyone.”

— Jon D. Hanson, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

“Since the times of Job, and maybe sometime before, we humans have always wondered whence evil comes. In the Stanford Prison Experiment, Phil Zimbardo bottled evil in a laboratory. The lessons he learned show us our dark nature but also fill us with hope if we heed their counsel. The Lucifer Effect reads like a novel, is as profound as the holiest of scriptures, and is at all times backed by sound scientific research.”

— Anthony Pratkanis, Ph.D., founding editor Social Influence; Professor of Psychology, University of California

“As one of the Senior Criminal Investigation Division agents who saw conditions at Abu Ghraib first hand, it is clear to me that Phil Zimbardo truly understands all the factors that came into play there. His book is a must read for military leaders, mental health professionals and law enforcement officers.

— CW4 Marcia Drewry, Retired USA CIDC Special Agent

Stunning! Drawing on a lifetime of brilliant social psychological research, Zimbardo demonstrates how good people can be transformed into "evil doers" by the power of situation-even you! He decodes how the Bush administration, in the delusion it alone can rid the world of the evil of terrorism, has turned into a model of "administrative evil." But Zimbardo also offers us a vision of how we can challenge an unjust system.

— Gail Sheehy, author of "New Passages" and "Sex and the Seasoned Woman"

“In another time, Philip Zimbardo might be likened to an Old Testament prophet of doom, but the author is not dealing with omens and unrealities, rather, quite the opposite. His anatomy of human psychology and contemporary culture is as scholarly as it is scary.

This book takes us where angels fear to tread, uncovering the 'Lucifer' that sits incubating in each individual and every human institution. Politics, economics, history and even religion are all revealed as being tainted with its evil spoor.

The professor's timely study screams out at us to be on the alert, to be ever mindful and ever ready least we fall into this heart of utter darkness. We should be grateful for his insight and heed his warning...at our peril.'”

— Brian Keenan, author of An Evil Cradling

©2006-2016, Philip G. Zimbardo