Judith N. Shklar (1928–1992) was John Cowles Professor of Government at Harvard University and a MacArthur Fellow. Her many books include American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion, Ordinary Vices, and Legalism: Law, Morals, and Political Trials.

These are civilized excursions, literate and sensitive, and I cherish the book for its effort to move us out of the metalanguage and into the heart of darkness. Once we acknowledge the ordinariness of ordinary vices, the banality of normal badness, we may find ourselves not so distant from the moral monsters of human history, who may simply be us, writ large.

• Introduction: Thinking about Vices 1. Putting Cruelty First 2. Let Us not be Hypocritical 3. What is Wrong with Snobbery? 4. The Ambiguities of Betrayal 5. Misanthropy 6. Bad Characters for Good Liberals Notes Credits Index

Judith N. Shklar (1928–1992) was John Cowles Professor of Government at Harvard University and a MacArthur Fellow. Her many books include American Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion, Ordinary Vices, and Legalism: Law, Morals, and Political Trials.

These are civilized excursions, literate and sensitive, and I cherish the book for its effort to move us out of the metalanguage and into the heart of darkness. Once we acknowledge the ordinariness of ordinary vices, the banality of normal badness, we may find ourselves not so distant from the moral monsters of human history, who may simply be us, writ large.

• Introduction: Thinking about Vices 1. Putting Cruelty First 2. Let Us not be Hypocritical 3. What is Wrong with Snobbery? 4. The Ambiguities of Betrayal 5. Misanthropy 6. Bad Characters for Good Liberals Notes Credits Index