Book Reviews Political Theory Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: A New Transla- tion by Robert C. Bartlett and Susan D. Collins. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011. 319pp., £22.50, ISBN 9780226026749 This is the long-awaited translation of Aristotle’s Nico- machean Ethics by those who agree with the position held by Leo Strauss and his students that if one is going to access texts through a translation rather than in their original language, one should use a translation that remains literal, which means being faithful both to what is said and also how it was said by the author.The translation by Bartlett and Collins comes from within this tradition of translation, with its insistence on faith- fulness to the meaning and usage of the concepts and the language originally used by the author, enabling the reader to access the text as closely as if reading it in the language in which it was composed. This translation insists on keeping to the meaning of the Greek terms and how they were used by Aristotle, alongside a fidel- ity to the style and argument presented in the Greek text. Another aspect of the approach that underlies Bar- tlett and Collins’ translation and the school of herme- neutics they come from is that they find themselves in disagreement with the dominant schools of classical Greek philology in the Anglo-American tradition and how they often translate Greek texts, which tends to assume that there is a consistent tradition of the meaning of Greek terms used by (and often coined by) Aristotle (or Plato) and the Latin and medieval Roman Catholic tradition. Also, the Anglo-American tradition all too often pays little attention to the form in which the text is presented (although this is more the case when dealing with Plato and his use of the dialogic form than with Aristotle), whereas Bartlett and Collins pay close attention to the rhetorical character of the text. The goal of their translation is to allow one to access as closely as possible the ideas and arguments presented by the author in the text and not to do all the work for the reader by explaining away or summing up the difficulties within it. There has been another literal translation before this one that does a good job of balancing the hard line between faithfulness to the Greek text and readability – that by Joe Sach published in 2002. Sach’s translation has fewer notes and often uses a wider variety of translations of key Greek terms, which makes it a bit more readable and is thus seen as being a very student-friendly literal translation. In contrast, the translation by Bartlett and Collins has extensive scholarly notes and explanations of possible alternatives or why they made a particular choice.Thus the Bartlett and Collins translation will also be very useful to those who are accessing the original Greek text, as it confronts the scholarship of classical philology. Even those who disagree with most of the interpretations of the Straussian school will find this translation extremely useful for the purpose of scholar- ship and for teaching more advanced courses where careful and close attention to the text is required. Clifford Angell Bates Jr (University of Warsaw) Alain Badiou: Key Concepts by A. J. Bartlett and Justin Clemens (eds). Durham: Acumen, 2010. 207pp., £14.99, ISBN 978 1844652303 This volume of collected essays is part of a wider, self-described, engagement with Alain Badiou’s work by ‘Academicians who understand their first duty to be to critique rather than to intelligibility’ (p. 1).This ethos is evident throughout, both intellectually and aestheti- cally. If the reader’s response upon encountering the above description would be to fling the book aside and read no further, then that might well be advisable.This is not a book written for them. Despite being described as an ‘introductory’ work in the canon of ‘Badiou studies’ (p. 158), Alain Badiou: Key Concepts is a tough read. Newcomers to the titular philosopher’s work should not start here. Without some pre-existing POLITICAL STUDIES REVIEW: 2012 VOL 10, 238–312 © 2012 The Authors. Political Studies Review © 2012 Political Studies Association