"The larger background for this striking new study is the modern revival of virtue ethics, which is inspired by, but does not merely reproduce, Classical Greek theory...... Thinkers such as Philippa Foot, Michael Slote and Rosalind Hursthouse have offered systematic accounts of virtue ethics in a climate of intense debate about the merits or demerits of this approach in relation to more familiar types of modern theory. In recent years, the polemical stance of Prichard, or Maclntyre and Williams, has become less common, and there have been moves on both sides to identify common ground without giving up the core character of the different approaches. This is the context in which Susan Allard-Nelson's book has been produced. She follows scholars such as Julia Annas, Martha Nussbaum and Nancy Sherman in highlighting the resources of ancient ethical theories such as those of Aristotle and the Stoics for developing modern versions of virtue ethics. But this book has its own distinctive contribution to make to this line of enquiry. It argues that virtue ethics, of a broadly Aristotelian type, can provide a coherent and satisfying theory of normativity.....In the course of developing these ideas, Allard-Nelson confronts head-on a number of objections sometimes made to the idea that virtue ethics of an Aristotelian type can provide a basis for contemporary theory.... This lucid and informed book has much to offer to students and scholars of ethical theory, both ancient and modern." - (From the Preface) Christopher Gill, University of Exeter, UK."