William Ian Miller is the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He has also taught at Harvard, Yale, Chicago, and the Universities of Bergen and Tel Aviv. Professor Miller holds a JD and a PhD in English, both earned at Yale. His various books, including most recently Faking It (2003), The Mystery of Courage (2000) and The Anatomy of Disgust (1997), have enjoyed critical acclaim throughout the world.

"William Ian Miller..scratches the itch of authenticity and relieves the ache of morality with delicious determination in Faking It." The Boston Globe

This book is a historical and philosophical mediation on paying back and buying back, that is, it is about retaliation and redemption.

Preface: a theory of justice?;

1. Introductory themes: images of evenness;

2. The Talion;

3. The Talionic mint: funny money;

4. The proper price of property in an eye;

5. Teaching a lesson: pain and poetic justice;

6. A pound of flesh;

7. Remember me: mnemonics, debts (of blood), and the making of a person;

8. Dismemberment and price lists;

9. Of hands, hospitality, personal space and holiness;

10. Satisfaction not guaranteed;

11. Comparing values and the ranking game;

12. Filthy lucre and holy dollars;

Conclusion.