Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Introduction: the life of contract -- 2. Contract as promise -- Promise -- The moral obligation of promise -- What a promise is worth -- Remedies in and around the promise -- 3. Consideration -- 4. Answering a promise: offer and acceptance -- Promise and vows -- Acceptance and the law of third-party beneficiaries -- The simple circuitry of offer and acceptance -- Rejections, counteroffers, contracts at a distance, crossed offers -- Reliance on an offer -- 5. Gaps -- Mistake, frustration, and impossibility -- Letting the loss lie where it falls -- Parallels with general legal theory: an excursion -- Filling the gaps -- 6. Good faith -- "Honesty in fact" -- Good faith in performance -- 7. Duress and unconscionability -- Duress -- Coercion and rights -- Property -- Hard bargains -- Unconscionability, economic duress, and social justice -- Bad samaritans -- 8. The importance of being right -- You can always get your money back -- Conditions -- Waivers, forfeitures, repudiations -- Notes -- Index