Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times

Beautiful Souls: Saying No, Breaking Ranks, and Heeding the Voice of Conscience in Dark Times by Eyal Press

What causes people to go against orders in order to do what they feel is right? During Nazi Germany, soldiers were ordered to perform cruel acts to Jews. Even outside of Germany, there was significant discrimination against the Jewish population. However, some people refused to participate in the cruelty. One factor that contributed to this was association with people. It was easy to order cruelty towards unknown people from a distance. It is much more difficult to do so when you are close to somebody.

Sometimes those that "break ranks" do so out of strong moral values. Other times it is just a condition that leads them to do so.  The book pivots from war-time cruelies to modern business whistleblowers. Despite the appearance in Hollywood movies, the life of the whistleblower is hard. Often they are rejected, and can only achieve success after many struggles and persistence. Often whistleblowers do so out of respect. They like the company or industry, and want it to work properly. Whistleblowers tend to be more common in the United States than in places like Japan. 

The book tells the story of a whistleblower that brought down  the Stanford Group ponzi scheme. It is shocking that this went on for so long without anyone seriously questioning the irregularities. 

The book provides a few anecdotes to explore "breaking ranks" and attempts to draw some conclusion. However, it is better seen as a "story" than a study that draws conclusions.