Getting Even: Revenge As a Form of Justice

A serious intellectual challenge to those of us who reject the concept of revenge. It is fresh, breaking out of the standard approaches of retributivist scholarship in a most innovative way. Whatever your preferred philosophy of punishment, after reading Barton's book you are unlikely to think of revenge in quite the same way. -- John Braithwaite, Australian National University

Barton's highly readable discussion, with its effective dual philosophical and practical orientation, will prompt searching reassessments, both from philosophers concerned with the place of retribution in an adequate moral theory of punishment, and from those working for improvements in our criminal justice systems. -- John Bishop, University of Auckland

The best book-length study available on the rationality and morality of revenge. It is marvelously lucid and deeply challenging. -- Graham Oddie, University of Colorado at Boulder

The vast majority of contemporary moral theorists hold that revenge and retribution are morally indefensible. Charles Barton subjects this view to a very close scrutiny; and develops a very serious, circumspect, and sustained argument in support of moral retributivism. This thought-provoking and very well-written book deserves to be widely read and discussed. -- Michael Tooley, author of Abortion and Infanticide