Nearly everyone has wronged another. Who among us has not longed to be forgiven? Nearly everyone has suffered the bitter injustice of wrongdoing. Who has not struggled to forgive? Charles Griswold has written the first comprehensive philosophical book on forgiveness in both its interpersonal and political contexts, as well as its relation to reconciliation. Having examined the place of forgiveness in ancient philosophy and in modern thought, he discusses what forgiveness is, what conditions the parties to it must meet, its relation to revenge and hatred, when it is permissible and whether it is obligatory, and why it is a virtue.

Forgiveness ancient and modern -- Pardon, excuse, and forgiveness in ancient philosophy : the standpoint of perfection -- Bishop Butler's seminal analysis -- Resentment -- Forgiveness -- Forgiveness at its best -- Forgiveness, revenge, and resentment -- Resentment and self-respect -- To be forgiven: changing your ways, contrition, and regret -- Forgiving: a change of heart, and seeing the offender and onesdelf in a new light -- The conditions of forgiveness: objections and replies -- Atonement and the payment or dismissal of a debt -- Forgiveness as a gift and unconditional forgiveness -- Praiseworthy conditional forgiveness -- Moral monsters, shared humanity, and sympathy -- Moral monsters -- Shared humanity and fallibility, compassion, and pity -- Sympathy -- The unforgivable and the unforgiven -- Forgiveness, narrative, and ideals -- Forgiveness, reconciliation, and friendship -- Imperfect forgiveness -- Ideal and non-ideal forgiveness: an inclusive or exclusive relation? -- Third party forgiveness -- Unilateral forgiveness: the dead and the unrepentant -- Self-forgiveness -- For injuries to others -- For injuries to oneself -- For injuries one could not help inflicting -- Forgiveness and moral luck -- Political apology, forgiveness, and reconciliation -- Apology and forgiveness writ large: questions and distinctions -- Political apology among the one and many -- Many to many apology: test cases -- The University of Alabama and the legacy of slavery -- Apology, reparations, and the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans -- Desmond tutu and South African churches -- King Hussein in Israel -- The United States Senate and the victims of lynching -- One to many apology: two failures -- Robert McNamara's war and mea culpa -- Richard Nixon's resignation and pardon -- Traditional rituals of reconciliation: apology, forgiveness, or pardon? -- Apology and the unforgivable -- Apology, forgiveness, and civic reconciliation -- A culture of apology and of forgiveness : risks and abuses -- Political apology, narrative, and ideals -- Truth, memory, and civic reconciliation without apology -- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: an interpretation -- Reconciliation without apology?.