In writing about war, I have had the support of many allies, institutional and personal. I began my research during the academic year 1971–72, while working at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California. I wrote a version of the preface and of chapter 1 at Mishkenot Sha’ananim (Peaceful Habitations) in Jerusalem, Israel, in the summer of 1974—a visit made possible by the Jerusalem Foundation; the bulk of the book was completed in 1975–76, while I was a Guggenheim Fellow.
For almost a decade, I went to school with the members of the Society for Ethical and Legal Philosophy, and while none of them are responsible for any of the arguments in this book, they have collectively had a great deal to do with the writing of it. I am especially grateful to Judith Jarvis Thompson, who read the entire manuscript and made many valuable suggestions. With Robert Nozick I have quarreled amicably about some of the hardest issues in the theory of war and his arguments, hypothetical cases, queries, and proposals helped me shape my own presentation.
My friend and colleague Robert Amdur read most of the chapters and he often forced me to think about them again. Marvin Kohl and Judith Walzer read portions of the manuscript; their comments on matters of style and substance have often been incorporated into my pages. I am grateful also to Philip Green, Yehuda Melzer, Miles Morgan, and John Schrecker.
During a quarter at Stanford University and for several years at Harvard, I taught a course on the just war, and learned while I was teaching—from colleagues and students alike. I will always be glad of the cooling skepticism of Stanley Hoffmann and Judith Shklar. I also benefited from the comments and criticisms of Charles Bahmueller, Donald Goldstein, Miles Kahler, Sanford Levinson, Dan Little, Gerald McElroy, and David Pollack.
Martin Kessler of Basic Books conceived this book almost before I did, and assisted and encouraged me at every stage of the writing of it.
When I was almost finished, Betty Butterfield undertook to type the final draft and set an astonishing pace, both for herself and for me; without her, the completion of the book would have taken much longer than it did.
An early version of chapter 12, on terrorism, appeared in The New Republic in 1975. In chapters 4 and 16 I have drawn upon arguments first developed in Philosophy and Public Affairs in 1972. In chapters 14 and 15, I have used portions of an article published in 1974 in the Israeli philosophical quarterly Iyyun. I am grateful to the editors of the three journals for permission to reprint these materials.
I am grateful to the various publishers who have kindly permitted me to reprint material which first appeared under their auspices:
Rolf Hochhuth, “Little London Theater of the World/Garden,” lines 38–40, in Soldiers: An Obituary for Geneva. Copyright © 1968 by Grove Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Grove Press, Inc.
Randall Jarrell, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” line 1, copyright © 1945 by Randall Jarrell. Renewed copyright © 1972 by Mrs. Randall Jarrell; and “The Range in the Desert,” lines 21–24, copyright © 1947 by Randall Jarrell. Renewed copyright © 1974 by Mrs. Randall Jarrell. Both appeared in The Complete Poems. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.
Stanley Kunitz, “Foreign Affairs,” lines 10–17, in Selected Poems. 1928–1958. Copyright © 1958 by Stanley Kunitz. This poem originally appeared in The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company in association with the Atlantic Monthly Press.
Wilfred Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” line 1, and “A Terre,” line 6, in The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen, edited by C. Day Lewis. Reprinted by permission of the Owen Estate and Chatto and Windus Ltd. and New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Gillo Pontecoro, The Battle of Algiers, edited and with an introduction by PierNico Solinas. Scene 68, pages 79–80. Reprinted by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Louis Simpson, “The Ash and the Oak” in Good News of Death and Other Poems. Poets of Today II. Copyright © 1955 by Louis Simpson. Reprinted by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons.