The Lesser Evil

Michael Ignatieff, a writer, historian, and broadcaster, is Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. His books include Isaiah Berlin: A Life, Blood and Belonging, The Warrior's Honor, and The Needs of Strangers. His novel Scar Tissue was nominated for the Booker Prize, and his book The Russian Album, A Family Memoir won Canada's Governor General's Award and the Heinemann Prize of Britain's Royal Society of Literature.

"Michael Ignatieff has written a book in defense of liberty, in praise of democracy. . . . [I]t is too rare that the task is conducted with Ignatieff's learning and subtlety."---Jedediah Purdy, Michigan Law Review --- "Ignatieff presents a convincing argument as to how terrorist threats should be handled at the political level: with a combination of determination and caution."---Re'em Segev, Ethics --- "Ignatieff's analysis is nuanced, balancing ideals, necessities, and practicalities, and his literary inspirations are a welcome addition to doleful history."---William S. Kowinski, San Francisco Chronicle --- "[A] thoughtful essay by a leading public intellectual. . . . [Ignatieff] eloquently argu[es] that a liberal democracy can survive the age of terror only if it takes seriously the political context within which terrorism thrives--that is, by engaging, persuading, and championing social justice." --- "[A] wise and reflective book. . . . This book is much more than a philosophical exercise. Ignatieff addresses real concerns, such as the acquisition of nuclear or chemical weapons by terrorist organizations. This should be required reading for all informed citizens as we face an uncertain future." --- "Ignatieff's analysis is nuanced, balancing ideals, necessities and practicalities, and his literary inspirations are a welcome addition to doleful history. . . . [The] discussion that this book can inspire is well worth the effort for those struggling to sustain a free society and build a more hopeful world."---William S. Kowinski, San Francisco Chronicle --- "Ignatieff understands that democracies around the world were fighting terrorism long before 9/11. In this exceptionally sophisticated commentary, he provides much-needed global and historical context for America's war against al-Qaeda, illuminating the promise and peril of a range of possible strategies for combating terrorist threats. . . . The sheer diversity of his case studies enables Ignatieff to discredit any simple-minded approach to terrorism. . . . [His] impressive scholarship also underscores his warning that unless democracies subject all of their extraordinary tactics to legislative oversight and judicial scrutiny, they may subvert the very political traditions they set out to defend. The turbulence of recent history guarantees keen interest for this sobering inquiry." --- "Michael Ignatieff assesses America's war on terror and tries to determine what security measures a society can tolerate and still consider itself virtuous." --- "We need calm, reasoned advice on how to balance the interests of security and liberty. We have it now in a remarkable book. Michael Ignatieff brings history, philosophy, law, and democratic morality to bear on the problem. That may sound daunting, but Ignatieff is such a forceful writer that it is a fascinating book. . . . Reading him is a bit like having a conversation with an eminently reasonable but convinced and powerfully convincing man."---Anthony Lewis, New York Review of Books --- "In The Lesser Evil, Michael Ignatieff addresses the ethical problems faced by liberal democracies. . . . [H]e soberly deals with permanent problems of American foreign policy, not only those specifically provoked by the Bush administration's war on terror: the problems of attempting to rule without demonstrated legitimacy, the prudential problem of choosing the lesser evil, the expedient choice of deliberative abuse or suspension of rights considered defining qualities of democracy, the limits of acceptable violence and coercion, and the problems of arbitrary detention, torture, assassinationand disregard of the rule of law--all the subject of policy choices made in Washington since September 2001."---William Pfaff, Los Angeles Times --- "Finalist for the 2004 Lionel Gelber Prize"