Introduction: Why I wrote this book -- Why do the religious suffer? -- The story of a man named Job -- Sometimes there is no reason -- No exceptions for nice people -- God leaves us room to be human -- God helps those who stop hurting themselves -- God can't do everything, but he can do some important things -- What good, then, is religion?

Harold Kushner, a Jewish rabbi facing his own child's fatal illness, deftly guides us through the inadequacies of the traditional answers to the problem of evil, then provides a uniquely practical and compassionate answer that has appealed to millions of readers across all religious creeds.