Acts of contrition and transitional justiceâadmission of wrong apology and reparationsâhave become fashionable in the discourse of international affairs. Using a case-study approach that inspires student discussion of concrete examples this text addresses important questions about the politics of apology in relation to some of the most controversial cases of US foreign policy over the past fifty years: Vietnam Nicaragua and the most recent war in Iraq. Loramy Gerstbauer offers an original transdisciplinary and accessible argument for the practical value of contrition forgiveness and reconciliation in international relations while examining why the United States has been a less than contrite nation and offering a prescription for how to change this state of affairs. . Language: English