Blood Meridian

Not for the faint of heart, this book is about the violence that men do because it is their nature to do it. They act with animal savagery but in the purposelessness of their actions cannot even aspire to that of animals, whose purpose is to eat. The apocalyptic figure of the Judge, who moves through the story relatively unscathed, does so because he alone openly embraces the nature of humans. The biblical tone of his prose underscores very effectively the complete lack of moral purpose of the characters in the book. Cormac McCarthy is not humanity's greatest cheerleader and he doesn't disappoint in this book.