Hannah Arendt: A Reinterpretation of her Political Thought

by Margaret Canovan

Overview

Margaret Canovan argues in this book that much of the published work on Arendt has been flawed by serious misunderstandings, arising from a failure to see her work in its proper context. The author shows how such misunderstanding was possible, and offers a fundamental reinterpretation, drawing on Arendt's unpublished as well as her published work, which sheds new light on most areas of her thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521477734
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/24/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The Origins of Totalitarianism; 3. 'Totalitarian Elements in Marxism'; 4. The Human Condition; 5. Morals and politics in a post-totalitarian age; 6. A new republicanism; 7. Philosophy and politics; 8. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"Here at last is a clear and accessible, appreciative but not uncritical, account of the whole range of Hannah Arendt's thinking. For once the wood is not lost in the trees. Her status as one of the major thinkers of this century emerges beyond doubt." Bernard Crick

"Margaret Canovan has written an extraordinarily good book about Hannah Arendt's political thought—the best and most comprehensive work yet written on the subject....it should become the benchmark; no one working on Arendt in the future will be able to ignore Canovan's interpretations." Suzanne Duvall Jacobitti, Times Higher Education Supplement

"Margaret Canovan...gives us a beautifully composed and mature account of [Hannah Arendt's] political thought as a whole, drawing extensively on unpublished sources to illuminate major works such as The Origins of Totalitarianism and The Human Condition." Times Literary Supplement

"Margaret Canovan's well-crafted reinterpretation of Hannah Arendt's published work uses the latter's unpublished manuscripts and correspondence to demonstrate persuasively the continuity and coherence of her thought and the ongoing significance of the problem of 'totalitarianism' throughout her career." Robert Paul Resch, American Historical Review

"Canovan provides an excellent and comprehensive explanation of how Arendt's political theory emerges out of her early struggle to understand the new phenomenon of totalitarianism." Gordon J. Tolle, The Review of Politics

"...makes an invaluable contribution to the scholarly literature by providing a fresh interpretation based on a careful study of the extensive manuscripts now housed in the Library of Congress....few will fail to profit by accompanying Canovan on her investigation....Canovan's extensive and skillful use of the unpublished sources ensures her a place on the shortest list of required books for advanced students. Happily, the book is also highly accessible and entirely suitable for the serious beginning student." James T. Knauer, International Studies in Philosophy

From the Publisher