I wish I could remember the title or author. I read the first chapter or two of this book in Barnes & Noble…oh, 10-15 years ago, at a guess.
I believe it was written by a therapist. He was attempting to explain/explore “evil” behavior. As an example, he described a family he worked with in therapy. The older son had killed himself with a gun. Some time later (within a year or so, IIRC), the younger brother, understandably depressed about older boy’s death, was given a (Christmas? I think) gift…a gun, and not just any gun, which would be bad enough, but the very gun his older brother killed himself with. (Reported the father: “It’s a nice gun.”)
It was a startling read, but I couldn’t afford it and I’d like to find it now that I’ve though of it lo these many years later.
Any ideas?
WAG: The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by Erich Fromm?
Based on the “Look Inside!” feature on Amazon…I don’t think that’s it. That one sounds more clinical in tone, I think, than the one I saw. It was a smallish book, if that helps. 
So many clues to go on!
It sounds like “People of the Lie” by M. Scott Peck.
Edit – the book was released in paperback with a bright yellow cover. It was a startling read and was used in a philosophy class about good and evil.
That is the book all right. I read it in the past five years some time. It’s memorable.
Aha! You know, I thought that might be it, but I couldn’t read far enough in the Amazon sample. Then I started googling the title chapters, and sure enough…that’s the one.
I’ll have to order it in print. I’ve been trying to get it on my Nook but I don’t think it’s available.
Awesome. Thanks!
papergirl, the story you mentioned is one that stuck with me. And I saw the book in my mind’s eye. Glad to help!
You might also like “Sociopaths Among Us.”
In fact, I just ordered it. Along with a couple of dystopian novels for my son, since that’s what his lit class is focused on this year.
I think I do have the Sociopaths Among Us. It’s a good read too.
Yeah, I remember reading the story of the gun in that book nearly 30 years ago; it’s a very memorable book.