Hannah Arendt: Thinking in Dark Times, from Totalitarianism and the Human Condition to Power, Revolution, Truth, and the Banality of Evil

The volume explains The Origins of Totalitarianism and its account of how isolated people were drawn into movements built on ideology and terror; The Human Condition and its distinction between labor, work, and action; her studies of power, violence, and revolution; the Eichmann trial and the phrase banality of evil; the late reflections on thinking and judging in The Life of the Mind; and her essays on truth, lying, and civil disobedience.

Throughout, each argument is set out in its strongest form and followed by the objections of her critics, from the quarrel over Eichmann in Jerusalem to the disputes over Little Rock, race, and her relationship with Heidegger, so that readers can judge for themselves what still stands.

No background in philosophy is needed. Her key terms are explained where they first appear, and the volume closes with a timeline and a guide to reading her own works.