The Culture of Vengeance and the Fate of American Justice [Paperback]

Terry K. Aladjem (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521713862 | ISBN-13: 978-0521713863 | Publication Date: January 14, 2008 | Edition: 1

America is driven by vengeance in Terry Aladjem's provocative account - a reactive, public anger that is a threat to democratic justice itself. From the return of the death penalty to the wars on terror and in Iraq, Americans demand retribution and moral certainty; they assert the "rights of victims" and make pronouncements against "evil." Yet for Aladjem this dangerously authoritarian turn has its origins in the tradition of liberal justice itself - in theories of punishment that justify inflicting pain and in the punitive practices that result. Exploring vengeance as the defining problem of our time, Aladjem returns to the theories of Locke, Hegel and Mill. He engages the ancient Greeks, Nietzsche, Paine and Foucault to challenge liberal assumptions about punishment. He interrogates American law, capital punishment and images of justice in the media. He envisions a democratic justice that is better able to contain its vengeance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One part cultural analysis, one part exploration of liberal political thought, The Culture of Vengeance gives vengeance a sympathetic and nuanced treatment. This makes Aladjem's critique and rejection of it all the more powerful. From start to finish this is a masterful book, rich in insightful analysis, and filled with originality."
-Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science, Amherst College

"Terry Aladjem's arresting insight that revenge threatens democracy in its resistance to reason and doubt becomes a clarion call as he examines how revenge is awash in America. Reactions to 9/11, debates over the death penalty, soaring rates of incarceration, pop cultural preoccupation with violence, law, O.J Simpson, the victim-focus of TV and radio talk and reality shows, and cowboy foreign policy are some of the vivid examples that this perceptive book traces to waves of enraged grief. Assessing the neglect of this moral desperation within the language and institutions informing American law and justice, The Culture of Vengeance and the Fate of American Justice revisits classical and modern scholarship to etch a course where truth-seeking and moments of mercy can reconnect justice-seeking with democratic respect.
-Martha Minow, Jeremiah Smith Professor, Harvard Law School

"Terry Aladjem has written a deep and moving book on the inevitable impact of passions of revenge on political practice, including in modern liberal democracies. In response to these passions he calls not merely for dispassionate rights-based legality but for skepticism in the face of epistemological difficulties, an acceptance of fallibility, and humility. His book is a salutary corrective to the main tendency in liberal political thought to discount the permanence of anger, loss, and agitated memories in political life."
-Danielle Allen, UPS Foundation Professor of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

"'The Culture of Vengeance and the Fate of American Justice' is a remarkable book. Drawing on the resources of political theory, psychoanalysis, and Greek tragedy, it engages a host of issues concerning the theory and practice of punishment in liberal democracies. Aladjem asks not only why we punish, but why we punish in the peculiar way we do."
-Dana Villa, Packey J. Dee Professor of Political Theory, University of Notre Dame

"Aladjem probes the current tendency among Americans to equate justice with vengeance so as to show that the thinking and passion behind vengeance is incompatible with democratic justice...[an] exceptionally rich meditation on these themes...Recommended."
-C.E. Butterworth, University of Maryland, College Park, Choice

Book Description

A reactive public anger has transformed American justice in Aladjem's timely book. It asserts itself in public denunciations of "evil," in capital punishment and the war on terror. Yet this vengeful justice presents a dilemma for democracy itself. It demands a reexamination of its most basic theoretical assumptions and a fresh articulation of the democratic stand against it.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (January 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521713862
• ISBN-13: 978-0521713863
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars insightful; inspiring; thought-provoking, June 24, 2010

By 

Serena (boston MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Culture of Vengeance and the Fate of American Justice (Paperback)

Justice, not Vengeance - this riveting book makes the thoughtful case that substituting vengeance for justice is a problem for democracy as such. Especially in the US, society exercizes vengeance instead of justice. From TV cop shows, malpractice lawsuits, issues of race and the death penalty, author Terry Aladjem argues we are substituting the cheap nickel of vengeance for the dollar of moral justice - and we all pay the price of that meanness. Tracing his argument in civil and legal discourse, and in literature, from the Greeks through South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Aladjem's argument is bold and convincing. Indeed, it evoked in me that fore-heading smiting, "why didn't I see that?!" reaction of things that are patently true.
A must-read for anyone interested in where our legal, civil, and social systems are heading.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-read for Anyone Interested in Justice (and Injustice), January 7, 2009

By 

A Reader in Cambridge - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Culture of Vengeance and the Fate of American Justice (Paperback)

Not only political theorists but anyone who cares about the fate of American justice (and justice more broadly) should consult this provocative and important book. Scholars of liberalism, in particular, will benefit from its challenge to the notion that liberalism has somehow solved the political problem of punishment. It should unsettle assumptions and prompt a rethinking of the moral and theoretical premises of liberalism. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, July 15, 2008

By 

Virginia Rivard "realreader" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Culture of Vengeance and the Fate of American Justice (Paperback)

This is a brilliant analysis of a deep and troubling tendency in American culture. If you have time for only one serious book this summer, let this be the one--while it is an erudite examination of vengeance across time and place, it has special relevance for the upcoming election.