To look into the darkness of the human soul is a frightening venture, yet here Mary Midgley does so with her customary brilliance and clarity - to read Wickedness is to understand her reputation as one of the great moral philosophers.

To look into the darkness of the human soul is a frightening venture. Here Mary Midgley does so, with her customary brilliance and clarity. Midgley's analysis proves that the capacity for real wickedness is an inevitable part of human nature. This is not however a blanket acceptance of evil. Out of this dark journey she returns with an offering to us: an understanding of human nature that enhances our very humanity.

' I have now read the book twice, not because it is difficult (on the contrary it reads with the ease and elegance of Bertrand Russell), but because it is so stimulating.' - Brian Masters, The Spectator