How the ‘Authentic Politics’ of Hannah Arendt Speak to 2020’s Biggest Problems
The 20th-Century Philosopher and Theorist’s Writing Is Made for a Time of Pandemic and Protest
Hannah Arendt was one of the greatest political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt, who was Jewish, was born in Germany in 1906. She fled the Nazis in 1933 and ended up in the United States, where she devoted her new life to writing trenchant analyses of all things political—from totalitarianism to political revolution to war. A few years ago, I began writing a book about her thinking in response to the political partisanship, vitriol, and downright demagoguery of our age. I also wanted to introduce Arendt, who died in …
