The concept of good and evil has coexisted since the dawn of mankind. It is a universal notion shared by different religions, civilizations and historical epochs.
Political commentator and bestselling history author Bill O’Reilly describes evil this way: “Harming a human being without remorse.” That’s a pithy definition and one he and co-author Josh Hammer expound on in their book, ‘Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst.’ The second book in the ‘Confronting’ series, their new book lists the worst people in human history and the deeds that earned them that infamous distinction.
Of the twelve individuals/groups listed, many are responsible for the death of millions of human beings. Obvious names like Genghis Khan, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler comprise the rotten roster of evildoers, but the names and deeds of others will surprise readers. Three groups written about were America-based, and three others are still alive and causing mass suffering and death today.
Evil is a Plague
The authors label Caligula, the third Emperor of Rome, as the most powerful man in the world of his day. At one point he ruled over 75 million people in an empire spanning 2.3 million square miles on three continents.
Born in AD 12, he was crowned emperor in AD 37. Initially adored by the public, six months into his reign he was struck by a mysterious illness believed today to be a brain tumor or partial stroke. After that everything changed. Consumed by paranoia, he went on a rampage of murder, sexual debauchery and engaged in fanciful whims of violence against Roman senators and citizens. As Rome deteriorated with malaria, plague and smallpox, life expectancy fell 20 percent in just three years. Regardless, Caligula’s only concern was consolidating power, inflicting violence and quenching his sexual appetites.
The Praetorian guard led by his personal bodyguard, Cassius Chaerea, murdered 28-year-old Caligula by fatally stabbing him.
Henry VIII
Like Caligula, Henry the VIII’s early reign beginning at age 18 was initially popular before his fiery temper, six marriages and break from the Catholic Church led to a divided England. When the Pope refused to grant the monarch a divorce from his first wife, he banned Catholicism, created the Church of England and installed his own clergy headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Over the course of a few years he persecuted Catholics, murdering tens of thousands of Englishmen, including his second and fifth wives. The authors wrote that his religious conflicts led to an estimated 15 million dead throughout Europe.
A voracious glutton, Henry VIII’s proclivity for food and alcohol ballooned his weight to almost 400 pounds at his death while his subjects had little to eat. The corpulent king died of obesity, diabetes, gout, heart, kidney and liver failure and was buried beside his third wife and distant cousin, Jane Seymour, who bore his only son.
The Slavers of New Orleans
Two names omitted from most history books are Isaac Franklin and John Armfield. Armfield was Franklin’s nephew by marriage and together the pair ran the largest slave market in the world.
In 1820 the domestic slave trade was the country’s most lucrative business with four million human beings harvesting tobacco, rice, fruit, sugarcane and cotton. Anti-slavery activists in Congress banned the importation of new Africans at the turn of the nineteenth century but the domestic slave trade continued. Consequently, the price for slaves rose 900 percent.
The authors wrote at their peak Franklin & Armfield employed 300 traders in Richmond, Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, Raleigh, Atlanta, Savannah, Mobile and Nashville. Their operation sold 100,000 slaves across the Deep South and the two men fathered dozens of children after raping their slaves. Franklin and Armfield were the richest men in America, with the personal fortunes of each exceeding $30 million, or $2.3 billion in today’s currency.
Vladimir Putin
The Russian head of state needs no introduction. The authors detail Putin’s primitive upbringing, his rapid rise through the KGB ranks, and his accumulation of wealth while working as an advisor to the mayor of Leningrad. In that role Putin bullied and bribed officials while he ran a criminal network of gun smuggling, drug trafficking and prostitution.
In a stunning move on New Year’s Eve 1999 Putin was named the “acting president” by retiring president Boris Yeltsin. Putin rapidly consolidated power over the key oil and gas industries, disbanded independent media outlets and greatly increased his personal wealth.
The authors said that the Ukraine war is the greatest European catastrophe since World War II and the Russian dictator is solely responsible for thousands of civilian and military deaths. He continues to wreak havoc today.
Engaging and Informative
The author of nineteen #1 New York Times bestsellers, ‘Confronting Evil’ is the first O’Reilly book co-written with program producer Josh Hammer. As usual, O’Reilly’s history books provide compelling profiles, concise chapters and obscure background information that include interesting anecdotes that help animate the narrative.
‘Confronting Evil’ makes the point that much of the evil throughout history may have been avoided if good people would have acted. O’Reilly contends that every person in the Judeo-Christian tradition must choose between confronting evil or ignoring it, though many defer because it’s easier.
“Destructive people must be confronted or the suffering of innocents will grow, as history demonstrates,” he wrote in his Afterword.
Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst
St. Martin’s Press
Hardcover – 304 pages
Photos courtesy of MacMillan Publishers
Thanks for reading Dean Riffs. Welcome to all those who love personal liberty, capitalism, and who believe God has blessed America.
Copyright 2025, Dean A. George©
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