Introduction: “The Peculiarity of the Kind of Refugee I Was”

Abstract

On September 19, 1992, the New York Times carried a short piece on the death at the age of 63 of Harvard Professor Judith Nisse Shklar. The Times noted that Shklar was originally from Riga and that she had fled with her family first to Sweden and then, in 1941, to Canada. The article mentioned her major academic qualifications, awards, and distinguished career and made a short reference to Shklar’s interest in political theory and intellectual history, chiefly from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twenieth centuries. It was also noted that she had served as President of the American Political Science Association between 1989 and 1990, the first woman to head this large professional organization. As the Times further reported Shklar was survived by her husband, two sons, and a daughter.