Oxford University Press

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This is the first comprehensive study of the Bow Street Runners, a group of men established in the middle of the eighteenth century by Henry Fielding to confront violent offenders on the streets and highways around London....

How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude...

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John Kekes offers a response to the growing disenchantment in the Western world with contemporary life. He defends a realistic view of the human condition that rejects both facile optimism and gloomy pessimism. While acknowledging that the scheme of things is indifferent to our fortunes, he shows that we do have the resources to improve our lives....