Arguing beyond hasty dichotomies and unexamined moral assumptions, Resentment's Virtue offers a more nuanced approach to an understanding of the reasons why survivors of mass atrocities sometimes harbour resentment and refuse to forgive. Building on a close examination of the writings of Holocaust-survivor Jean Amery, Brudholm argues that the preservation of resentment or the resistance to calls for forgiveness can be the reflex of a moral protest and ambition that might be as permissible, humane or honourable as the willingness to forgive.

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 Améry 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 Améry's "Ressentiments" 
Appendix II: Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity 
Notes 
Works Cited 
Index