Envy is without a doubt the most corrosive of all human emotions, yet sociological, psychological, and anthropoligical study of its phenomenology is non-existent. How unfortunate!

Enter Helmut Schoek who traces the origins of envy through cultures, philosophy, psychology and politics. After reading this book you will be able to see how politicians appeal to this basest of human emotions to engender dissatisfaction and rage.

The phenomenology of envy needs to be studied in depth because of its pervasiveness in human nature, and societies worldwide. No people, government, religon or social group is immune from its poison.

I will never look at politics, society, or myself in the same way ever again. This book is a masterpiece, and Helmut Schoeck does an outstanding job of showing just how influential and pervasive the emotion of envy is in society. He studies societies all over the globe and shows us one of human nature's uglier aspects which seems to be universal. I found in this book many lessons for myself personally, and I obtained a more profound understanding of society, especially in terms of damaging economic policies peddled minded, power-hungry politicians which not only reduce the prosperity of the wealthy, but do not improve the lot of the poor which such policies are intended to help. This book is an excellent guide to human nature and societal structure.

This book goes down on my list as one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've ever read. It is a sociological\cultural anthropological study of envy. The author looks at written texts from biblical, Greek, and other ancient writings up to the twentieth century. He surveys anthropologist and sociologist studies on the subject and notes cultural differences in dealing with envy, with some emphasis on how it relates to politics. I honestly didn't find a single dull page in all of this.