A persuasive argument against forgive and forget

Resentment's Virtue represents an important counterpoint to the privileged status accorded to the logic of forgiveness in the transitional justice and reparations literatures. Brudholm illustrates nicely that 'negative emotions' are not only understandable in the aftermath of mass atrocity, but that they possess a moral component that is often ignored by the boosters of reconciliation. -Andrew Woolford, co-author of Informal Reckonings: Conflict Resolution in Mediation, Restorative Justice and Reparations Resentment's Virtue offers a much-needed corrective to the current fashionable enthusiasm for reconciliation and forgiveness as appropriate and desirable responses to unspeakable atrocities and the persons who authorized or committed them. It also provides a detailed analysis of Jean Amery's contribution to the alternative argument that continuing outrage and refusal to forgive constitute justifiable moral reactions to such atrocities. It should stimulate renewed discourse on a troublesome subject. -Lawrence L. Langer, author of Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory and, most recently, Using and Abusing the Holocaust In Resentment's Virtue, Thomas Brudholm rightly takes issue with some of the lazy assumptions concerning both the putative benefits of reconciliation and the assumed negativity of anger directed against those who have committed human rights atrocities... The results are a thoughtful and interesting... treatment... [T]he themes in this book will be of interest across the transitional justice disciplines and if Brudholm compels people to take Amery seriously, I think he will regard his work as well done. -International Affairs

Thomas Brudholm is Research Fellow at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

Foreward by Jefferie Murphy Preface and Acknowledgements 1. Transitional Justice and the Ethics of Anger Part I: Revisiting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa 2. Commissioning Anger 3. The Hearings 4. The Therapy of Anger 5. Desmond Tutu on Anger 6. Layers and Remainders Part II: Jean Amery on Resentment and Reconciliation 7. Contextualizing Ressentiments 8. Opening Moves 9. Facing the Irreversible 10. Restoring Coexistance 11. Guilt and Responsibility 12. Wishful Thinking? 13. A Multifarious Reception 14. Epilogue: Between Resentment and Ressentiment Appendix I: Overview of Jean Amery's Ressentiments Appendix II: Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Notes Works Cited Index