Distributive Justice and Disability: Utilitarianism Against Egalitarianism. By Mark S. Stein. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. 316p. $50.00.

In A Theory of Justice (1971), John Rawls viewed the interests and concerns of people with disabilities as beyond the pale of justice, at best requiring that ad hoc or “special” measures be added onto policies designed for “normal” people. Happily, these days theorists of distributive justice treat disability not as an outlier but as a litmus test of theoretical adequacy. In his superb book, Mark Stein follows this path, but with the specific purpose of pitting utilitarianism against egalitarianism. It is when these competing theories deal with disability, he argues, that we notice how much they diverge, and more to the point, how and why it is that utilitarianism is superior.