In helping deeply divided societies come to terms with a troubled past, transitional justice often fails to produce the intended results. Thin Sympathy argues that the acquisition of a basic understanding of what has taken place in the past will enable the development of a more durable transitional justice process.

Joanna R. Quinn is President of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. She is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction at the University of Western Ontario.