EVERYDAY EVIL
Why Our World Is the Way It Is

Author: Monique Layton

Instead of the epic, alien force of our imagination, anthropologist Monique Layton argues that evil is intrinsic to our humanity, constantly evolving with modern notions of morality. 

Drawing on anthropology, history, philosophy and popular culture, Layton provides a new lens through which to view contemporary issues, establishing connections between such disparate phenomena as:

  • medieval law enforcement and the Trump Baby balloon
  • the Salem witch trials and female genital mutilation
  • body-snatching and surrogacy 
  • slavery and fast fashion

Much of the world’s suffering, she argues, can be traced back to the individual actions of ordinary people trying—
and failing—to maintain a static social order.

  • Non-fiction
  • ISBN 978-1-7751659-6-5 (paperback)
  • ISBN 978-1-7751659-7-2 (ebook)
  • 5.5″ x 8.5″
  • Publication date: October 2019
  • Paperback: CA $20.00 / US $14.95
  • Ebook: CA $3.95 / US $2.95

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. . . an outstanding consideration of how the world got to where it is today – and where it may be heading.

Read the full review.

Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review

I found this book to be mesmerizing. Monique Layton has challenged her readers to take seriously the concepts of everyday evil from Biblical times to the present. But, throughout her extensive research and reporting there are countless windows of insight for change and their lies the hope for our era.

Meg Hickling, CM, OBC, LLD (HON), Author of Speaking of Sex and Boys, Girls and Body Science

With remarkable detail and a wide breadth of examples Monique Layton has engineered an assault on our too-often thoughtless innocence. Her analysis ranges from Genesis, through the philosophy of classical and modern writers to the Sneetches of Dr. Seuss, from the work of historians and journalists to editorials and documentary films.

Elvi Whittaker, PhD LLD(HON), Professor Emerita, UBC, and author of The Mainland Haole