Like the title suggests, Kraus examines how "villains" are manufactured by their environment, ideology, and personal weakness.
It is a dense, "maximalist" novel. It uses dark humor and grotesque imagery to process the horrors of the Holocaust and the Cold War. ✅ Reading Tips
At nearly 1,000 pages, the middle section detailing the bureaucratic inner workings of the SS can be slow but is vital for the "factory" metaphor.