Just War Against Terror by Jean Bethke Elshtain is a feeble attempt to justify the Bush administration's policies. She follows Augustine from the City of God in her just war arguments. The City of God was written to point us to a higher City not to serve as an apology for the City of Rome or the City of Washington DC. Augustine wrote the City of God to defend Christianity against the accusation that it was the cause of Rome's downfall. Augustine could not have conceived of modern warfare where one country like the U.S. has incredible asymetrical power over its hapless enemies.

Elshtain stretches the distinction between combatants and noncombatants to cover situations in war no longer applicable in the real world of modern weapons and modern warfare. What is the morality of fighting a force such as the Iraqi army made up mostly of conscripts who face a bullet in the back from Husseins forces or obliteration from the air by bombs from the United States? How are these human beings to be classified ? Combatants or noncombatants ? Doesn't the use of precision bombing actually make it worse for these human being ? Is slaughter a legitimate means of fighting war.

Elshtain also praises and accepts everything Bush and the Pentagon say as honest and noble. There is absolutely no consideration for the military, economic, and social conditions in the world except to say that nothing ever justifies terrorism. She moves from Camus, Augustine, and Arendt to Cluaswitz. She accepts the latter's idea that war is the continuation of diplomacy and politics by other means. Terrorists have no politics except to destroy and that is what makes it evil per se.

Elshtain says that both pacifism and realpolitics are wrong. What is needed is the way of Just War theory. I think her vision of the world is like watching children playing in a sandbox. Some children are acting like bullies. It is so easy to distinguish the good kids from the bad ones. If the world were as simple as Elshtain sees it there would be no need for theories. All that is needed would be an adult to get the bullies out of the sandbox.

What Elshtain lacks is a vision to evaluate war with a "whole new attitude", called for by the American Bishops in their 1983 document, The Challenge To Peace." This is the real burden we all need to shoulder,--- not the "Burden of American Power In A Violent World, embolden on the cover of her book Just War Against Terror. American power is part of the problem not part of the solution to a just and peaceful world.

Unlike knee-jerk books from the left or the right, Elshtain's closely argued book adds clarity and depth (plus context) to arguments about fighting terrorism. Although the piece is a bit heavy on some of the Christian theology, philosphy points, it is not offputting in that regard, and the historical points re the Crusades (and the slaughter/oppression of Christian's by Muslims under the Sword of Islam in the run up to the Crusades) provides an essential reminder for those who start their historical analysis of terrorism in 1200. The argument about the role of America in sober and inspiring. This is a really fine contribution that is well written and a pleasure to read.

Just War Against Terror is a brilliant book. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I have been shocked by the Left's response to the slaughter of more than 3,000 innocent people. Apparently, Prof. Elshtain, no right-winger by any means (read Democracy or Trial or Jane Adams and the Dream of American Democracy), is also appalled. So she wrote a book in which she courageously challenges the dogmatic anti-Americanism of her fellow academics and other members of the Left. Using honest, fact-based reasoning, Prof. Elshtain shows how the Left ignores or distorts facts and uses evasive language and flawed analogies to avoid the work of actually reasoning (among other false practices). It is a great pleasure to see the steamroller of Prof. Elshtain's logical arguments utterly flatten the accepted orthodoxies of the Left.

More importantly, however, Prof. Elshtain provides a logical/moral framework, in plain, accessible language, for analyzing whether the use of force is just. She uses this framework to assess the justness of the US response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Although she ultimately determines that the US acted justly in Afghanistan, using her analytical framework does not require that you reach the same conclusions that she reached. She is not trying to channel the debate but rather broaden it by injecting honest analysis.

As the debate that began on September 11, 2001, continues, this book will become extremely important as it helps to shape that debate because of the power of its logic and honesty. READ this book. Whether you agree or disagree with its conclusions, you will find yourself better equipped to evaluate the arguments raised by all sides.

I read this book as an assignment for one of my classes, and it really opened my eyes to what the world looks like from a black woman's eyes. I'm a white female, and although I've extensively studied African-American history, I never came across a book that focused solely on the black female experience. This book delves deeply into issues faced by African-American women in the workplace, at home, and during all the tasks of everyday life, combining intelligent commentary with passages from interviews with middle-aged, professional black females. My only complaint about this book is that I thought there would be a lot more in-depth interviews; they don't make up as big a part of the book as I'd expected. Still, the authors do a wonderful job at painting pictures of a world that many are not familiar with, and cannot understand.