"At once a riveting critical history of the discipline of psychology and a masterful nuanced analysis of the most important psychological theories about Nazism and the Holocaust, Of Mind and Murder is consistently lucid and hugely informative. The deleterious consequences of long-term exposure to lies, the role of threatened narcissism, the impact of prejudice and the management of cognitive dissonance, the routinization of cruelty and the self-interested distortions of memory: all of these issues remain painfully urgent, and Mastroianni's book provides a superb, indispensable guide." -- Dagmar Herzog, Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and author of Cold War Freud: Psychoanalysis in an Age of Catastrophes "This book is a magnificent gift to social science. The author provides the first genuinely thorough analysis of the Holocaust from both psychological and historical perspectives. The overarching coverage and amount of scholarly detail are extremely informative, particularly given the raging controversies that have continued to permeate these literatures for decades. The author pays deserving homage to classic earlier treatments, e.g., Gordon Allport's The Nature of Prejudice (1954), as well to very recent critiques, e.g., the role of Adolf Eichmann in the Holocaust, by Cesarani (2007) and Stangneth (2014). Arendt's thesis on the banality of evil and the familiar linkage between Milgram's obedience studies and the Holocaust are put under an intense analytical microscope by the author, as is the Browning-Goldhagen debate.More generally, the author provides an illuminating examination of both the indispensable need to include both history and psychology in an effort to understand the Holocaust, as well as the constraining obstacles one faces in attempting this kind of inclusive perspective. This book is far more, however, than a reprise of long- standing research and scholarly disagreements. There is both provocative analysis but also a bold synthesis in this work. Mastroiannni's masterful analysis and discussion become, in my view, an instant benchmark for all future Holocaust references in social science." --Arthur G. Miller, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Miami University