Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations

“A classic in the field” (New York Times), this is a penetrating investigation into moral and ethical questions raised by war, drawing on examples from antiquity to the present.

Just and Unjust Wars has forever changed how we think about the ethics of conflict. In this modern classic, political philosopher Michael Walzer examines the moral issues that arise before, during, and after the wars we fight. Reaching from the Athenian attack on Melos, to the Mai Lai massacre, to the war in Afghanistan and beyond, Walzer mines historical and contemporary accounts and the testimony of participants, decision makers, and victims to explain when war is justified and what ethical limitations apply to those who wage it.