Description
Book SynopsisGeorge Cotkin looks at diverse yet central issues such as the problem of evil, moral responsibility, racial identity, and capital punishment, juxtaposed against events such as the bombing of civilians during World War II, the My Lai Massacre, and the invasion of Iraq to demonstrate that moral complexity and confusion can be productive.
Trade Review"
Morality's Muddy Waters tackles big, first order questions and ranges over a half century. Cotkin . . . demonstrates the power of historical investigation and reflection to illuminate ethical problems. He prefers fact-based particularity to abstract universalizing and offers us compelling evidence of the former's strengths. He works hard to visit all sides of the ethical questions he covers. His approach is judicious, and his prose, despite the well described muddiness of his subject, is lucid." *
The Common Review *
"Cotkin is a clear-headed thinker and writer at home in both philosophy and recent US history." *
Choice *
"George Cotkin is one of our premier cultural historians. This book once again confirms his profound probings of the rich nuances and crevices of the American past and present." * Cornel West, Princeton University *
"In
Morality's Muddy Waters, George Cotkin thinks in new ways about the moral and political presuppositions of contemporary American culture and its recent past. You will not always agree with his answers, but the questions he poses about our civic life are arresting and perceptive." * Bruce Kuklick, author of
Blind Oracles: Intellectuals and War from Kennan to Kissinger *
"
Morality's Muddy Waters is a pathbreaking book that makes some of the most troubling episodes in modern U.S. history available to readers struggling with contemporary moral dilemmas of the greatest urgency. Cotkin writes with intelligence, nuance, and a deep humanity." * Casey Nelson Blake, Columbia University *
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
1 The Problems of Evil 7
Part I. IN TIMES OF WAR
2 A Sky That Never Cared Less
3 The Moral Mystery of My Lai
Part II. IN TIMES OF PEACE
4 The Hate Stare: Empathy and Moral Luck
5 Just Rewards? Capital Punishment
Part III. PRESENT PROBLEMS
6 Muddiness and Moral Clarity: The Iraqi Situation
Conclusion: Torture and the Tortured
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
