Rating: 
Summary: No soul left to sell...
Review: After I read this book, I began my research on psychopaths, sociopaths, serial killers and how it all gets started. I feel that they are drawn to positions of power because perhaps somewhere at some point in their lives, maybe after being dominated or abused at a very young age, they decide that as soon as they are able, they will never let anyone else tell them what to do. And the profession they come up with that will allow them to accomplish their objective would be one of power, often law enforcement. Scary. I just found out that my neighbor also escaped, but not with her children, as I did. Turns out that her ex husband, also violent, and also a psychopath, was also highly educated. A court appointed psychiatrist, even. So, it wasn't until five years ago when he finally landed in prison, did anyone start listening to her about this charming man. Who had of course had everyone convinced she was crazy. Invalidation, I find, is one of the most insidious forms of abuse that they use. Pretty soon, you start beginning to doubt your own thoughts and feelings, and eventually you stop having them altogether.
Rating: 
Summary: A good resource book!
Review: After many paper and journal searches in the library on Antisocial Personality Disorder, I was attempting to put it all together..... then I discovered this Book! From the family member to the Mental Health Professional this book gives the reader a look into what is and who has Antisocial Personality Disorder. A very easy read into a very complex disorder!
Rating: 
Summary: A simplistic, superficial, very limited treatment...
Review: Although the general approach and anecdotal content of Bad Boys, Bad Men were quite interesting, Dr. Black's approach seems simplistic and he takes inexcusable liberties in attempting to "dumb" down" the book for its intended audience. For example, how can it possibly be true that "[e]very antisocial leaves a trail of disruption, deceit, and even violence...." Mistakes in grammar and usage, such as "to loan" instead of "to lend" and "pled" instead of the proper legal usage of "pleaded", also undermined the credibility of this work. The book's anecdotal content reflects the limitations of the sources from which they were drawn and have a decided bias toward lower-class, violent antisocials. Although a brief and rather superficial chapter discusses "successful" antisocials, the text constantly returns to the extreme and violent end of the scale. Throughout the book, a tone of subtle condescension toward the lay-reader and the antisocial is detectable, albeit disguised in simple vernacular. When serial-killer Gacy responded to the author that he was filing their correspondences under "People Up to No Good", the author seems to find this a humorous anecdote which he rather smugly posits as an example of Gacy's pathology. Perhaps Gacy may have recognised that the author, like so many others, had intended to exploit him in order to produce a work that would be sold for financial reward and for personal benefits to career and reputation.
Rating:
Summary: A simplistic, superficial, very limited treatment...
Review: Although the general approach and anecdotal content of Bad Boys, Bad Men were quite interesting, Dr. Black's approach seems simplistic and he takes inexcusable liberties in attempting to "dumb" down" the book for its intended audience. For example, how can it possibly be true that "[e]very antisocial leaves a trail of disruption, deceit, and even violence...." Mistakes in grammar and usage, such as "to loan" instead of "to lend" and "pled" instead of the proper legal usage of "pleaded", also undermined the credibility of this work. The book's anecdotal content reflects the limitations of the sources from which they were drawn and have a decided bias toward lower-class, violent antisocials. Although a brief and rather superficial chapter discusses "successful" antisocials, the text constantly returns to the extreme and violent end of the scale. Throughout the book, a tone of subtle condescension toward the lay-reader and the antisocial is detectable, albeit disguised in simple vernacular. When serial-killer Gacy responded to the author that he was filing their correspondences under "People Up to No Good", the author seems to find this a humorous anecdote which he rather smugly posits as an example of Gacy's pathology. Perhaps Gacy may have recognised that the author, like so many others, had intended to exploit him in order to produce a work that would be sold for financial reward and for personal benefits to career and reputation.
Rating: 
Summary: Conscientiously Without Conscience
Review: Are there some people who simply make it their mission to be bad? The psychiatric circle is now beginning to believe so. In this groundbreaking look at Anti-social Personality Disorder (ASP) psychiatrist Donald Black charts the process and problems of men (for they are primarily men) who know no conscience and simply refuse to obey the rules. Typically, these men are white and working class, who go through jobs, money, homes, prisons, and family with a virtual disgregard for those around them. They may have come from poor families and broken homes, they are likely to have been juvenile delinquents, their parents may have been antisocials as well. But the Antisocial is a very dangerous person who comes in any size, shape, or form. At the risk of seeming like another attempt to plead pity for criminals, Donald Black insists that these men be held responsible for their actions, and avoids placing blame on anyone but them for the destruction they seem to willfully cause. He discusses various causes for the disorder (ie: genetics, brain trauma, abuse, poverty), the history of its discovery, and gives us case studies of men who he has tracked down more than twenty years after their initial hospitalization and diagnosis with ASP, often with unsettling results. I liked this book for its scholarly treatment of this psychiatric subject. It was complex and in-depth, but at the same time, still accessible to me as a non-psychiatrist. I was fascinated with the descriptions of personalities that he gave, and riveted by the petrifying account he gave of the sociopath John Wayne Gacy. At the same time, I did have some problems with this book. At times, it did not hold my attention and would read like a textbook. I also found that Dr. Black's treatment of the antisocial was rather contemptuous and seemed to emphasize the fact that these people are virtually impossible to treat, rather than trying to show optimism or enthusiasm. I don't think you can help somebody (no matter how unlikeable they may seem at face value) recover if you attack them. There is a difference between holding someone responsible and beating them up over their bad choices. (Or perhaps this shows I didn't get as much out of this book as I should have.) Along the same lines, Dr. Black did not support his descriptions of antisocial behavior with the responses of the patients. He told us antisocials have no remorse, but I don't feel he really articulated that in telling the stories of follow-up interviews. Overall, I felt that this was a pretty good book, and an important introduction to a disorder which has extreme ill-effects on society (poverty, crime, etc.). Hopefully, over the years, their can be more research to define a way to treat these individuals.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating update of the ASP!
Review: Clearly influenced by Hervey Cleckley's classic work, "The Mask of Sanity", Donald Black's brief overview of the enigma of the antisocial personality disorder in its several guises serves as a welcome introduction to the subject for anyone interested in its recognition. Those looking for a "cure" or even a practical form of treatment for sociopathy will have to search beyond this book, for its management remains just as evasive as it was when Cleckley sat down to write his landmark description in 1941. The book provides excellent useful documentation through its careful chapter notes, and Dr. Black wisely avoids the theorizing and speculation, so often characteristic of the authors of books of this genre. The style is adult breezy, with strict avoidance of the turgid jargon of the typical psychiatric or psychologic journal article. Even though I was admittedly somewhat put off by the fact that a man with Dr. Black's professional background required the services of a ghost writer (C.Lindon Larson), this doesn't appear to have adversely perverted the end-product, a highly readable and helpful introduction for the general public on the pervasive influence of sociopathic behavior on all our lives.
Rating:
Summary: The Bad Seeds
Review: Genetic determinism has been with us since the bible. Recent advances in genome and proteome studies debunk both radical claims: "people are born bad" (bad seeds hypothesis) and "people are corrupted by bad parents and society" (the tabula rasa approach). It seems that genes and environment interact, recursively influencing each other. So are crime and moral dissolution hereditary mental disorders - or learned behavior patterns? The author votes for the former in this impressive but accessible introductory text, replete with dozens of case studies and recent scientific data. Still, social and domestic ills such as abuse and poverty, admits Black, a psychiatrist, play a role, at least in unlocking the criminal "potential". One should applaud the author's honesty in admitting his own profession's helplessness in the face of these depraved and largely untreatable personality disorders. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited".
Rating:
Summary: Book brings ASP to life in straight-forward style
Review: I have a shelf full of books that have bits and pieces of information on conduct disorder and the like on young men. Bad Boys, Bad Men takes all of that information, blends it together, adds to it, and spits it out in a very readable, comprehensive book that is like a dream come true to me. I mean it. And the advice to family members is so valid and honest. And the advice to the ASP person is so straight-forward. Reading this book has filled in many pieces for me in my search to understand the nature of a loved one. Bravo to Dr. Black and his writer friend. May this book be read by all the probation officers, juvenile judges, social workers and counselors alive. I truly believe that ASP is the basis for so much pain and suffering in our society.
Rating:
Summary: Book brings ASP to life in straight-forward style
Review: I'm still recovering from my 5-year marriage to a man with ASP that ended in 1982. When I left him, I'd never heard of ASP or sociopathy and I thought I was losing my mind. Reading "The Mask of Sanity" was the best tool available to help me. "Bad Boys, Bad Men" was the book I wish had been available back then. This book isn't "pop" psychology. It is an engaging discussion of a long-term study of ASP by a respected researcher and professor of psychiatry. The financial and emotional costs of antisocial behavior are incalculable. But I hear commentators on TV and radio every day who simply don't know what they are talking about. I am so grateful to now have the facts at my fingertips.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading if we want to make Society Safer
Review: I'm still recovering from my 5-year marriage to a man with ASP that ended in 1982. When I left him, I'd never heard of ASP or sociopathy and I thought I was losing my mind. Reading "The Mask of Sanity" was the best tool available to help me. "Bad Boys, Bad Men" was the book I wish had been available back then. This book isn't "pop" psychology. It is an engaging discussion of a long-term study of ASP by a respected researcher and professor of psychiatry. The financial and emotional costs of antisocial behavior are incalculable. But I hear commentators on TV and radio every day who simply don't know what they are talking about. I am so grateful to now have the facts at my fingertips.
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