Illiberal Justice: John Rawls vs. the American Political Tradition, by David Lewis Schaefer (Missouri, 368 pp., $24.95)
HARVARD philosopher John Rawls's death in 2002 generated obituaries even more embarrassingly pompous than the sort academics usually write for one another. He was, his colleagues averred, possessed of an almost superhuman kindness and humility. Several described him as "saintly" and judged that "we are privileged to have lived in his time." One of them related ...