In this book, Michael Walzer revises and extends the arguments first put forth in his influential Spheres of Justice and frames his ideas about justice, social criticism, and national identity in light of the new political world that has arisen in the past decade.

ISBN: 978-0-268-01897-9
108 pages
Publication Year: 1994

Michael Walzer is professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He is the author of The Company of Critics, Interpretation and Social Criticism, and Just and Unjust Wars, among other books.

“Thick and Thin is extremely readable, engaging and perceptive, ambitiously drawing into a unified framework a variety of difficult moral and political issues.” — Times Literary Supplement

“[This] is a moving, eloquent, and at times inspiring meditation on the problem of obligation . . . Walzer writes on some of the most explosive issues of the day in a voice that is always calm and thoughtful. Our culture is thicker because of his presence.” — Commonweal

“Walzer thoughtfully answers objections to his many influential volumes of social criticism. . . . After five tight chapters, Walzer posits that we are all made up of several selves—based in our histories, identities, and associations—that we juggle as we confront a world of complex decisions and ambiguous choices. It is among those selves, rather than in a community of eager discussants, that the most profound moral reasoning occurs, a commentary on what Walzer perceives as the current sad state of public discussion and moral debate. . . . [T]his is a well-argued . . . set of carefully wrought ideas on the state of public moral debate.” — Kirkus Reviews