Ervin Staub is Professor Emeritus and the founding director of the doctoral program in the psychology of peace and violence at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He previously taught at Harvard University. He has studied the roots of caring, helping, and altruism and their development in children and adults, as well as the roots of genocide and other violence between groups, their prevention, and reconciliation. He is the past president of two societies, editor or co-editor of four books, and the author of six books and many articles and book chapters. He has worked in a variety of real-world settings, in schools to develop caring classrooms and active bystandership by students, and in Rwanda to promote reconciliation. For more information, visit www.ervinstaub.com http://www.ervinstaub.com .

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"In this superb...deeply erudite and moving volume... Ervin Staub draws together an impressive array of researches and organizational efforts... (It) would make a superb text for college students at any level as well as a valuable resource for professionals in social agencies as they struggle to understand the roots of community violence and to learn techniques to cope-to enhance empathy and prosocial behaviors in families and neighborhoods. The author suggests ways that teachers, parents, and also bystanders to violence can address obstacles and increase the quota of kindness and the flowering of altruism among children and adults." --PsycCRITIQUES

"In this excellent book, Ervin Staub writes from a lifetime of knowledge and experience, both personal and professional. He has never been a bystander. You will cherish his insight, and perhaps even more the goodness of his heart." --Richard Rhodes, historian and author of Why They Kill and The Making of the Atomic Bomb, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

"Ervin Staub has devoted his life-from his childhood Holocaust escape to his distinguished career-to resisting evil and pursuing goodness. This important volume recaps his career as the world's leading expert on evil and goodness, harm and helping, radicalization and reconciliation. His life and scholarship point the way to wider circles of 'moral inclusion,' to responding with moral courage, to raising children who become helpful and even heroic adults, and to empathy nurtured by suffering." --David G. Myers, Professor of Psychology, Hope College, and author of Social Psychology, 11th Edition

"This book is a compilation of the insights of a devoted scholar who has studied good and evil for approximately 45 years. Staub deals with some of the most important issues of our time: violence against outgroup members; altruism, moral courage, and reconciliation; and how and why a person is a perpetrator versus a helper. This book is an important resource for anyone interested in fostering compassion, helping behavior, and caring societies." --Nancy Eisenberg, Past President of the Association for Psychological Science; Regents' Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University; and author of The Caring Child

"In The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil, Ervin Staub helps us understand how each of us can tap into our own compassion and moral courage. Drawing on many years of comprehensive research and work in real-world settings, and inspired by his own experience as a childhood survivor of the Holocaust, Staub has written a book with the unique power to illuminate the best of humanity in individuals and societies." --Arianna Huffington, chair, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post and author of Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder

"Dr. Ervin Staub has delivered another gift of a book, this one on human goodness and the capacity to resist evil. A highly humanistic and hopeful book, it offers a counterbalance to human suffering and shows the capacity for caring and sustenance in the face of all forms of victimization. Dr. Staub has lived this experience personally as a child rescued from the Holocaust and as an adult in his research and field work around the globe. Highly recommended reading for professional and lay audiences alike." --Christine A. Courtois, PhD, ABPP, Psychologist, Independent Practice, Washington, DC; Past President, Trauma Division of the American Psychological Association; Author, Healing the Incest Wound; Recollections of Sexual Abuse; Treatment of Complex Trauma; Spiritually-Oriented Treatment of Trauma

"Ervin Staub combines his own remarkable life experience with the highest academic standards in diagnosing the root causes of evil, and reverse engineering that analysis to reveal the conditions that allow the flourishing of a compassionate and harmonious society. The Roots of Goodness and Resistance to Evil should be required reading in the social sciences -- and for anyone who cares about a civil society." --Daniel Goleman, Ph.D., Author of Emotional Intelligence

"This fine book is a victory lap of sorts for a distinguished career, but is also forward looking because it includes not only the author's major and recent articles but also newly written material dealing with ways to prevent violence and promote peace. Those interested in learning a programmatic approach to addressing matters of moral courage and compassion will be drawn to this book, as will those who want to apply psychological insights to advancing reconciliation and creating caring societies." --CHOICE

"This book is especially recommended to those who want to deal intensively with the treatment of suffering in the whole society." - Lorna Schütte, PsyStudents