I had never even heard of "ponerology" and had to look it up.
It makes me of Hannah Arendt's books on the origins of totalitarianism.
Discussion
That's the one. It's an extremely important book, in my opinion. Containing information the communists and Poland hunted people down to suppress. It's a miracle it was ever written, as all of Lobachevsky's colleagues likely didn't make it out, as well as much if their research findings.
Her books are referenced by the editor in the footnotes near the beginning of the book, I think. Or else I heard of her somewhere else.