Michael Walzer is UPS Foundation Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of more than a dozen books, including Politics and Passion, On Toleration, The Jewish Political Tradition and 50 Years of Dissent, all published by Yale University Press.
"This book of essays has an outstanding pedigree. Michael Walzer is one of the US's foremost political theorists and social commentators... penetrating and powerful" - Ben Rogers, Financial Times "Walzer has moved the concerns over just war from the periphery of political theory to the very center of our democratic dilemma." - Garry Wills, New York Review of Books "Accessible and elegantly written... [and] essential reading for [both] scholars and practitioners." - Choice "If there is such a thing as the American conscience, one of its most important custodians is Michael Walzer... A must read." - Peter S. Temes, San Francisco Chronicle.
"This book of essays has an outstanding pedigree. Michael Walzer is one of the US's foremost political theorists and social commentators... penetrating and powerful" - Ben Rogers, Financial Times "Walzer has moved the concerns over just war from the periphery of political theory to the very center of our democratic dilemma." - Garry Wills, New York Review of Books "Accessible and elegantly written... [and] essential reading for [both] scholars and practitioners." - Choice "If there is such a thing as the American conscience, one of its most important custodians is Michael Walzer... A must read." - Peter S. Temes, San Francisco Chronicle.
Walzer (Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton) has attained the status of an eminent moral philosopher on collective violence through his classic Just and Unjust Wars (1977). In these previously published essays, he draws particular strength from an insightful combination of theory and case studies. For example, his discussion of the concept of proportionality in the first Gulf War challenges us to consider not only the costs of a response to aggression but the moral significance of specific wartime decisions. Walzer provides an excellent defense of the decision to embark upon a "just war" and what is implied by justification. His objection that the second Gulf War was "preventive, not preemptive" clarifies the moral difference between the two and shows that, contrary to President Bush's view, the current war was not preemptive. Walzer's discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict offers a good account of why the moral argument is confusing; elements of each side have engaged the other in two distinct wars, both just and unjust. A concluding chapter explains different versions of global governance, but perhaps the book's title reflects Walzer's most durable accomplishment. Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries. Zachary T. Irwin, Sch. of Humanities and Social Science, Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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