Suicidal Empathy
Dying to Be Kind
Format:Hardback
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Publishing:18th Jun '26
£25.00
This title is due to be published on 18th June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

The bestselling author ofThe Parasitic Mindshows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique of maladaptively irrational altruism that has gripped our culture. This mind parasite hijacked the empathy module of our progressive elite, leading to a catastrophic miscalibration of moral priorities. The results are everywhere: from coddling violent criminals to protecting rapists to branding self-defense as toxic behavior. We are witnessing a civilization in rapid decline. Lunatic policies are instituted because we prioritize the feelings of ostensibly marginalized groups over The Truth, criminals over victims, and squatters over homeowners. This is not humane; it’s an active dismantling of the pillars that keep us safe and free. This crisis of empathy creates a horrifying system of inverse morality where the strong and successful are demonized, and the destructive are celebrated. Just look at the insane inversions we tolerate daily: we prefer illegal migrants over our own legal citizens and veterans, permit drug addicts to threaten children’s safety in parks, and elevate transgender 'women' above biological women in sports and safe spaces. Common sense is dying in a deluge of misguided compassion. Suicidal Empathy is your wake-up call. Stop ignoring your survival instincts in the name of political correctness. This isn't just misguided policy; it is the ultimate expression of a culture actively choosing its own demise.
“Western civilization is doomed, unless the core weakness of suicidal empathy is recognized and actions are taken that are hard but necessary for survival. Gad Saad articulates this well. All of Gad’s books, including this one, are great.” — Elon Musk “Over the course of nearly half a century tracking culture war issues I have some perspective on our time and society, and I am deeply worried that the West faces a challenge like no other. But I was unable to link the disparate threats—the DEI, BLM, and trans movements, the fetishization of victimhood status, the ennobling of terrorists and criminals, and the failure to solve the drug and homelessness problems—to the underlying cause until I read Gad Saad’s magisterial work on Suicidal Empathy. There it is! We’re killing ourselves with kindness and it must stop before the patient dies, starting with this book, which includes the contagion's diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment." — Michael Shermer, Publisher, Skeptic magazine, author of The Moral Arc and Conspiracy "What happens when society becomes so empathetic that it tolerates intolerance? Gad Saad is the evolutionary psychologist who can tell us whether the enlightenment can endure in an age of suicidal empathy." — Lord Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist and Birds, Sex and Beauty "Probably the single most compelling analysis to date of how and why woke culture is destroying western culture by strangling science, public organisations and society." — Robin Dunbar, professor emeritus, the University of Oxford; author of Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships “Suicidal Empathy is a fiery exposé of compassion gone wild.” — Sally Satel, Lecturer, Yale University School of Medicine “Well before the appearance of this book, Gad Saad’s coinage “suicidal empathy” had spread throughout the Anglosphere, becoming an indispensable part of the common lexicon. And with very good reason – for it perfectly encapsulates a ubiquitous contemporary phenomenon that threatens the very fiber of our civilization and that Gad Saad illuminates here with analytical brilliance and caustic wit. This highly anticipated work is even more splendid than one had hoped – consistently fascinating, thought-provoking, and deeply alarming – and easily more important than any book in recent memory.” — Bruce Bawer, author of While Europe Slept
ISBN: 9780063446533
Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 21mm
Weight: 646g
256 pages