Somos libres de cambiar el mundo: Pensar como Hannah Arendt

by Lyndsey Stonebridge, Sion Serra Lopes (translator)

A timely guide on how to live—and think—through the challenges of our century drawn from the life and thought of political-theorist Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century's foremost opponent of totalitarianism and a "prophet against conformity" ( The Nation ).‘We are free to change the world and to start something new in it.’ -- Crises of the RepublicThe violent unease of today’s world would have been all too familiar to Hannah Arendt. Tyranny, occupation, disenchantment, post-truth politics, conspiracy theories, racism, mass migration, the banality of she had lived through them all.Born in the first decade of the last century, she escaped fascist Europe to make a new life for herself in America, where she became one its most influential—and controversial—public intellectuals. She wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all about freedom. Questioning—thinking—was her first defence against tyranny. She advocated a politics of action and plurality, and she knew that this also meant having the courage to defy and disobey.We Are Free to Change the World is a book about the Arendt we need for the twenty-first century. It tells us how and why Arendt came to think the way she did, and how to think when our own politics goes off the rails. Both a guide to Arendt's life and work, and its urgent dialogue with our troubled present, We Are Free to Change the World is a clarion call for us to think, as Hannah Arendt did—unflinchingly, lovingly, and defiantly—through our own unpredictable times.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography, Politics, History, Sociology, War

368 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2024

Reviews

[Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part biography of Hannah Arendt, part literary criticism of her works, part memoir of the author retracing steps Arendt took both physically and professionally, and part treatise for how we might draw on Arendt's philosophies to make a better world. This book is so far outside of my comfort zone (it was sent to me by the publisher and piqued my interest only because my brother is a Kant scholar who also draws on Arendt's works heavily). But I'm really glad I read it!

I won't lie and say that at times I was challenged, but I never felt defeated. It's simply due to my lack of knowledge about Arendt prior to picking this up—which along the way was remedied—and how little I flex the 'muscle' of thinking in this way as a primarily fiction reader. I think the author does a great job of balancing academic writing with personal reflection, explaining things in a way that is more accessible than I anticipated.

This book sort of unlocked something in me that hungers for more non-fiction. Once I got to the halfway mark—having previously read about a chapter a day or so—I devoured this book. I was thinking about its concepts while I wasn't reading it: how do we operate in a world that feels so full of contradictions? Is there a way to exist peacefully under capitalistic structures? Do I feel like my votes even really matter? How can I go out and think, act, and reflect on my thoughts & actions in a manner that honors my humanity, as well as the humanity of those I exist with?

I also couldn't help but think constantly of Palestine while reading this. I would've loved to know how Arendt would feel about current events, but can only, as the author says, think along side her and imagine what she may have said. And by trying to see the world through someone else's eyes, whether friend or foe, perhaps I can begin to erase some of those distinctions and see instead humanity. And by doing so, create a more just and loving world.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the beginning of the acknowledgments section of this book (Kindle location 3952), the author writes: "This book began with a conversation I had about Hannah Arendt with Krista Tippett for her radio show, On Being, in 2017." This conversation is available on Soundcloud here. On this page, there is also a link to the unedited version of the same conversation.

I was happy that I was offered a free electronic review of this book in advance of publication because Hannah Arendt's thought seems, like an iceberg, only partially visible to the casual observer. I wanted to know more. However, I didn't feel like I understood more about the parts of her life that I didn't understand before. I guess this is not the author's fault. She didn't promise an explainer for the uninitiated.

Perhaps the book is for people who already know about Arendt's life, but I can't imagine that this is a big segment of the reading pubic.

The author knows a lot about Arendt and is very enthusiastic about her, and wants you to be enthusiastic, too. This is admirable and worthwhile. But, in her enthusiasm, sometimes she went zooming by my understanding. I wanted to stop the book and say "What does that word actually mean?", for example, the word "givenness" when the author quotes Arendt saying "The human sense of reality demands that men actualize the sheer passive givenness of the being, …" (Kindle locations 2575). And while we're explaining, how about explaining how a person actualizes their givenness? Maybe give examples? Like: "A person actualizing their givenness would do X, but they wouldn't do Y."

The book is episodic (as was Arendt's life), and some episodes seemed clearer than others. I liked Chapter Five, where the author narrated a lapse in judgment in Arendt's life. Specifically, Arendt scolded, in print, the mother of an African-American child who had been threatened and menaced by racists on the way to integrating a school in 1959 Little Rock, Arkansas. The mother, Arendt maintained, was neglectful of the child's safety. As it turned out, the situation was more complex than it initially appeared. Arendt appeared too eager to scold, which was especially unseemly given that Arendt was neither black nor a mother. She could have benefitted from someone saying to her "Now, Hannah, maybe you want to put this article aside for a week and re-read it when you are in a different mood." But I can't imagine that Arendt attracted a lot of people who had the time to endure the inevitable cigarette-smoke-filled argument that such a suggestion might generate. In any case, the episode was interesting and revealing, and illustrated, I thought, certain strengths and weaknesses in Arendt's philosophy.

On the other hand, I felt that Chapter Eight, which attempted to knit together Arendt's reaction to the Hungarian revolution of 1956 with the lives of both a 21st-century political activist in Lebanon and the early-20th-century German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, with parenthetical digressions on Bernie Sanders, Eric Hobsbawm, and the 2017 satirical film The Death of Stalin, did not hang together as a coherent whole. I didn't understand how the chapter's conclusion flowed from what came before.

Not only did I receive a free advance electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, but they also sent me a friendly email inviting me to read it.

A few years ago, I read and reviewed an interesting and enjoyable graphic novel about Arendt's life. There is also a good 2012 biographical movie about Arendt.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is based on an advance reader copy.

TLDR: This is not a book that will give you an introduction to Arendt. This is for people who are already very familiar with her and her works.

I was very disappointed in this book. I admit that I knew nothing about Hannah Arendt before reading this. I have never read any of her works and had only heard her name in passing, attached to quotes posted on social media by former high school classmates and such. Based on the brief description I saw when I entered the giveaway, my only fear before starting this book was that it would be too pithy, and focused around these quotes. How wrong I was.

I was hoping for an introduction to Arendt - both biographical and an overview of her philosophy. I was also expecting Stonebridge to extend this to what Arendt would have said about politics today. While this last bit isn't really my thing (I don't favor putting words in the mouths of the dead, and instead prefer to learn about what they DID say and the circumstances so people can form their own conclusions) I didn't really object to it here since I was expecting it. Stonebridge did deliver on this last part with some snippets throughout the book.

On the biographical side, there was little information here and it was often presented in a convoluted way. Stonebridge jumps around in both time and subject matter. She seemed to try to tie a subject Arendt philosophized about with a period of her life, but she stuck neither to a chronological timeframe nor strictly to organization by subject as she often went off on roundabout and often repetitive tangents.

As for Arendt's philosophy, Stonebridge does talk about the big concepts, but the meat of the book is in the minutiae. Much time is spent on her relationship with Heidegger, and seems to be Stonebridge attempting to reconcile the anti-Nazi stalwart she admires with the woman willing to overlook and even apologize for her Nazi ex-lover.

Basically, I guess this just wasn't the book for me. If you are an Arendt scholar, then you will likely love this book. I remain disappointed, but have added an Arendt biography recommended by another reviewer to my TBR list.

[Isa · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Nu moeten jullie goed blijven opletten en weerstand bieden aan de erbarmelijke realiteit waarin jullie jezelf terugvinden. Maar in vredesnaam – ze blaast rook uit, heft haar glas campari –, heb ondertussen ook een beetje plezier!'

[Jamie]

I stumbled across this book in Frankfurt and I am very glad that I did because reading it was a completely mesmerising experience. The anecdotes about Arendt's life, along with interesting analysis of what she said, makes this a really good read. I was particularly drawn to the stories about how Arendt lived her life, Stonebridge clearly demonstrates that she was someone who is in love with life despite facing the deepest of hardships and I found this inspirational in itself.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is partly a biography of Hanna Arendt and partly an attempt to contextualize her thoughts and theories for a new generation. She was a German Jew who was steeped in the philosophical and cultural traditions of her homeland. When the Nazis rose to power and it became clear that this society could produce not just Kant and Beethoven but Himmler and Kristallnacht, she fled. Her first stop was France, where when Germany started on the clear path to war, she was detained in a prison camp as an enemy alien. Lucky for her, because once Germany invaded France it was chaos and she and other female prisoners escaped and walked over the mountains and ultimately to the United States. Over her life she questioned whether the traditions she had absorbed, not just of Germany but of European thought stretching back to ancient Greece, could be used to understand the obscenities through which Europe was living. She was unique in that she was determined to gather up the fragments of these political and philosophical traditions and to reinvent them to look at how totalitarianism rises and how it could (and is) rising again.
The pressing relevance of Arendt’s work was suggested when her sprawling magnum opus, The Origins of Totalitarianism, shot up the bestseller lists following Donald Trump’s election in 2016. While he and Putin clearly have an autocratic agenda that is crystal clear, Arendt would say the same was true of Hitler, so seeing it and stopping it are two very different things, and the question is are we up to the task? White supremacy has a frighteningly persistent grip on America, as an avowed criminal who is an openly racist candidate will be on the ballot in 2024.

[Ander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tengo la sensación de que es una de mis lecturas recientes más interesantes (¿y necesarias?). Lo compré pensando que tal vez se tratara de una introducción al pensamiento de Arendt que me pudiera ayudar con otras de sus obras, como Los Orígenes del Totalitarismo (2 veces lo he intentado y no hay manera), pero es mucho más. Este libro es una invitación a la reflexión y a la acción politica, a pensar qué es lo que estamos haciendo y cuál es nuestro lugar en el mundo. Y me ha generado la necesidad de leer obras de Arendt.

Podría decirse que esto es una biografía intelectual. Un viaje a través de la vida de Arendt y de sus obras que nos acerca a sus reflexiones sobre el amor, la raza, la apatridia, la soledad o el totalitarismo. Y me ha encantado que la autora sea capaz de hilar tan bien la realidad de esa Europa rota que convirtió la existencia humana en un agujero con el presente. Trump es sólo un ejemplo de cómo el legado del totalitarismo puede revivir después de la caída de los regímenes totalitarios.

No es un libro que caiga en la adulación. Los planteamientos de Arendt con respecto a la raza fueron muy criticados y lejos de justificarlos, la autora intenta que entendamos el porqué de su planteamientos.

Es un libro necesario. Hannah Arend sigue siendo necesaria para entender qué está pasando y por qué es tan importante la resistencia y la acción política.

(Si no son 5 estrellas es simple y llanamente porque la parte del libro que se centra en La Condición Humana me ha parecido algo más densa)

[E W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyndsey Stonebridge’s We Are Free to Change the World is a timely and highly accessible treatment of Arendt’s work—and the larger context to which it responded and that it still illuminates. Stonebridge is an eloquent and capable guide. She clearly greatly admires Arendt but is not blind to her shortcomings, including her failed forays into opining on race relations in the U.S. South. The book is strongest in its presentation and synthesis of Arendt’s thought, weakest in seeking to apply it directly to contemporary issues (Donald Trump, the January 6 insurrection, environmental disaster, Q-anon, Elon Musk, etc.)—weakest not because Arendt is not relevant, but because the application is self-evident and thus the explicit intrusions feel heavy handed in an otherwise elegant narrative. Arendt’s keen understanding and ability to look into the future is frequently chilling; there is in her work, Stonebridge rightly notes, many “a sentence that rears up from the twentieth century to the twenty-first.” And just as applicable today: “The realities [Arendt] faced up to were not always ones other people were ready to think about.” Enough said.

[Sara Cannilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. If you’ve read philosophy books before I found this to be pretty understandable compared to some other books I’ve read in the past. Stonebridge makes digestible comparisons from Arendt’s work and passion against totalitarianism to modern day America. I truly believe everyone should read this book especially right now. If you’re reading this and you’re my friend ask to borrow my copy!

[Nick Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love Arendts work and ideas on totalitarianism , you will love this book. it’s not an easy read, but the author does a brilliant job of presenting Arendts life works in an accessible and original way.

[Josefine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein fantastisches Buch, dass Hannah Arendts Denken, Einflüsse auf das selbige und ihr Leben in einer detaillreichen Erzählung zusammenbringt und die ein oder andere interessante und mir bisher unbekannte Begegnung mit anderen Dichter:innen, Politiker:innen und anderen Denker:innen beleuchtet.

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read by anyone interested in Arendt’s biography and her books. The author does a wonderful job covering both, using Arendt’s life to explain her thinking.
I now feel ready to begin Origins of Totalitarianism.

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful introduction to Arendt, very readable and complex, with many links to current events.

p. 70, quote from Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History, from his grave at Portbou: "It is more arduous to honor the memory of anonymous beings than that of the renowned. The construction of history is consecrated to the memory of the nameless."

Reminder that Varian Fry submitted over 1,137 "visa claims to the US Department of State. Only 238 were granted." Hannah got one; her mother did not.

"she understood from experience that to become a refugee was not simply an accident of war or natural tragedy, but structural to the way the modern world was organized. In _The Origins of Totalitarianism_, which she began researching during her refugee years, she would show how the long history that made mass displacement an everyday reality began with racism, imperialism, and the seemingly insatiable expansion of global capitalism . . . we do not simply need to care more. Hannah Arendt argued for a harder truth: the anonymity and vulnerability of placeless people is also, potentially at least, everybody's problem because it exposes the weak spot at the heart of a system that relies solely on the reliability of nation states and human goodwill" (72).

"Arendt used the phrase the boomerang effect to describe how imperialism's unique brand of administrative and racist dehumanization had spun back home to Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. . . . . the conditions that created industrial-scale genocide in Europe were familiar from elsewhere. Anti-colonial thinkers in the later mid-twentieth century, such as Frantz Fanon, Aime Cesaire, and the late Albert Memmi, also pointed out that from where they were standing the tearing of people from their land and homes, pushing them into camps and slave labor, turning lives into commodities and wars into means of ethnic cleansing, appeared neither novel in their colly administered execution nor unprecedented in their cruelty" (73)

Of Kafka's The Castle and Joseph K arriving there, "The point for Hannah Arendt was to never stop asking for human rights, even as evidence of their applicability to oneself is glaringly absent. The simple ask, she observed, is itself the privilege - maybe the only privilege - of the strangers and pariahs for whom human dignity is regularly denied. (74)

[Maryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant intellectual biography of Hannah Arendt. Samantha Rose-Hill calls it "a biography of vulnerability" as it starts with Arendt in a hospital bed after her car crash.

The book is organised by places that were important in Arendt's life and thinking, from Hanover to Kaliningrad, Marburg, Paris, Lisbon, New York, and Jerusalem. What makes the book lively, different from other historical narratives of Arendt's life, is that Lyndsy Stonebridge travels to most of those locations to experience what it's like and what it was like for one of the greatest political philosophers of our time to be there.

Stonebridge tries to bring Arendt's ideas to the present world, considering what Arendt's thoughts and judgments might be if she faced the violence of our time. In her attempt to think "in place of" Hannah Arendt, Stonebridge goes to the places Arendt has been to make sense of her world, and, in turn, our world. Following this, "Thinking Like a Refugee" becomes ironically the best chapter, as it reflects on the lives of stateless and displaced people of the last century and our time.

Hannah Arendt's philosophy is relevant for us, as she would ask the same questions today: "How did political lies get to work so well? At what point did the manufacturing of images start to impinge on reality?"

I was privileged to co-organise a book launch for The Philosopher magazine, hosting Lyndsy Stonebridge and Samantha Rose-Hill. Here is the recording of that event:
https://youtu.be/kvSJL5-7uuM

[Philip Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book overall, I wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars. Good, better than average, but not great. Some of the "lessons " were a little confusing and complicated. But the author does a good job of covering Arendts intellectual life and her works, which she spent much time and effort on. I guess now I go buy a copy of the "Origins of totalitarianism. "
PHIL J Kuhn

[Herman Verhoeven · Rating 5 out of 5]

You find behind the review in Dutch an English version.

Over Hannah Arendt zijn reeds vele werken geschreven. Dit boek is voor mij een topper. Ik schat het beter dan de werken van Ann Heberlein en van het grondige werk van Hans Achterhuis. Eigenlijk ben je er niet van bewust dat je een biografie leest. De aandacht gaat naar de thema's in haar gedachtengoed. Stonebridge verbindt het besproken thema in de periode van haar leven waar het thema tot stand kwam of belangrijk was. Zo komt haar beroemd thema "de banaliteit van het kwaad" meermaals voor, maar dikwijls vanuit een andere invalshoek. Spijtig genoeg is dit thema niet overal vanaf het begin op zijn waarde onthaald. Maar Stonebridge reikt de analyse aan die leidt naar het begrip van "banaliteit van het kwaad". M.i. is het denken van Arendt uiterst actueel. Altijd vertrekt ze vanuit de realiteit. Dit zet de denker aan om wat rondom hem gebeurt grondig te bekijken en te analyseren. Samen met de door haar aangehaalde quote "volo ut sis" zijn het motivaties om van het racisme weg te lopen. Niet alleen is haar denken krachtig maar ook hoopvol. In haar universum is het mogelijk om steeds opnieuw te beginnen!

Many works have already been written about Hannah Arendt. This book is a winner for me. I estimate it better than the works of Ann Heberlein and than the strong work by Hans Achterhuis. You are actually not aware that you are reading a biography. Attention is focused on the themes in her ideas. Stonebridge connects the discussed theme to the period of her life where the theme emerged or was important. For example, her famous theme "the banality of evil" appears several times, but often from a different angle. Unfortunately, this theme has not been universally welcomed from the start. But Stonebridge provides the analysis that leads to the concept of "banality of evil." Mi. Arendt's thinking is extremely current. She always starts from reality. This encourages the thinker to thoroughly examine and analyze what is happening around him. Together with the quote she quotes "volo ut sis", these are motivations to run away from racism. Not only is her thinking powerful but also hopeful. In her universe it is possible to start over again!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gràcies, Lyndsey Stonebridge, per ajudar-me a conèixer aquesta dona, Hannah Arendt, d'una manera entretinguda, captivadora, intensa, suggeridora.

No m'agrada llegir llibres de filosofia escriptors, que munten esquemes literaris com si fossin castells en l'aire: tots perfectes, fins i tot amb imatges geomètriques, però tan allunyats del peu de la terra que no m'interessen.

Però aquest llibre que és una biografia, m'ha sorprès, m'ha captivat i m'ha colpit, perquè Hannah Arendt era una dona real i extraordinària: una gran pensadora amb una història vital dura perseguida per ser jueva. Pots copsar com ella va abraçar la vida amb els seus raonaments profunds i el seu compromís polític, gràcies a l'esquema que segueix el llibre, organitzat per temes i també de manera cronològica. Els moments històrics estan plens d'anècdotes que reflecteixen aquell període (Holodomor, Budapest, Little Rock...) acompanyats de comentaris de l'escriptora que fan referència a similituds amb esdeveniments actuals. A més, la narració està enriquida per la important relació epistolar que Arendt mantingué al llarg de la seva vida amb amics, especialment Mary McCarthy, també escriptora.

També m'ha agradat el seguiment que fa l'autora dels viatges i dels llocs on Hannah Arendt va viure, des de la desconeguda Königsberg del 1783 amb Kant, passant pel camp de Gurs, Portbou, Berlín, Manomet (MA) als anys 50, l'illa grega d'Egina, Berlín, Jerusalem... fins al tranquil poble suís de Tenga.
Què en queda de la seva filosofia? Avui, llegint les notícies, trobava connexions amb ella, per exemple; les seqüeles del colonialisme, la dissidència a Harvard, les sentències de presó per la revolució de Tunísia... Em queda que la desobediència civil és una part essencial del contracte polític; la nul·la validesa del contracte polític de Hobbes, segons el qual hem de cedir la sobirania de la violència a les institucions polítiques perquè ens defensin dels altres és una fal·làcia, ja que aquestes acaben actuant amb finalitats bàsicament no polítiques i aquí la banalitat del mal descrit després del judici d'en Adolf Eichmann.

Molt dens i molt recomanable.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the two-star reviewer, I wish Stonebridge had delved further into the contradiction between Arendt the foe of totalitarianism in general and Nazism in particular, and Arendt the ex-lover of Heidegger who was too ready to at least semi-forgive him after the war, even as Stonebridge admits the degree of Heidegger's Nazi past still remains too overlooked.

Like one three-star reviewer, I wish she had delved more into Arendt's non-Zionism that was at the same time not actual anti-Zionism, because wouldn't that be a lesson for love and disobedience in pro-Palestinian protests?

The book has a few other flaws.

As the two-starrer notes, it presumes some familiarity with Arendt. It also does not, per one three-starrer, look at "translating" Heideggerian-type existential words and thoughts. Let us note that existentialism had multiple threads. Sartre didn't write that much like Heidegger and his direct and indirect disciples, like Tillich. Camus certainly didn't.

And, speaking of the threads? Did Arendt not turn to (proto)-existentialist Schopenhauer to talk about willing? He's not in the index.

Another error? No, not an error, a deliberate misplay. The Maidan was not a revolution. If not a coup, it was a semi-coup at least.

Unlike the one three-starrer who thought it was 3.5? I think it's 2.5 and just bumped the stars down one to two.

But, it's more than meh, beyond the mistakes. Stonebridge points out how Arendt basically blew it on misunderstanding much of the American civil rights movement. That said, Stonebridge doesn't note that Arendt wrote the American Indian out of the picture of America entirely.

That said, with that, how much of lessons in love and disobedience does Arendt really have to offer? Maybe not as many as the author claims. She's right on love not being charity in the modern sense, is Arendt, but beyond that, the Heidegger issue leaves questions there. On disobedience, she got Vietnam right, but not other things.

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the people of an intellectual bent that I know who are of my age remember their first encounters with the works of Hannah Arendt. Mine was with “The Origins of Totalitarianism”. Arendt was a deeply probing thinker who comes back into relevance during times of greater political instability and concern. Arendt was an engaged and roving intellectual throughout most of her life and only obtained a permanent academic position shortly before her death.

Lyndsey Stonebridge has written an extended essay/intellectual biography of Arendt that focuses on her linking of thinking, action, and living - the idea that thinking itself rather than the thought produced is most often the revolutionary action and contribution of the thinker. The book goes through many of Arendt’s works and culminates with Eichmann in Jerusalem and its worldwide reactions, which established her worldwide reputation. It is a well written book that reads like a love letter to Arendt. I heartily agree and recommend the book and now must find the time to go back and reread “On Revolution” and “The Human Condition.”

[Ayoto Ataraxia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book resurrects the indomitable spirit and intellect of Hannah Arendt, a timely release as we parallel yet again the cycles of war raged on by the empire. Arendt's sharp observation of totalitarianism, as a tripartite with imperialism and racism, provides a reflective persistence of lessons unlearned. The book gave me a renewed spirit and desire to return once again to Arendt's lessons on tyranny, occupation, disenchantment, and the definition and duties of freedom.

Stonebridge leads us through Arendt's text, at different points, understanding the structures of the Holocaust, not as tourists exoticizing the abject horror but the banality and repetitiveness of evil. The dialogue between past and present causes the reader to authentically dialogue about the dangerous task of thinking and its relationship to political action and moral courage.

The book serves not just as a biography but also calls into question the question of love in a world of indifference. It is a fantastic introduction and inspiration across the breadth of Hannah Arendt's work, an essential compendium to a historical thinker.

[Becca Stuttard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a meandering biography of Arendt's life which shows the nuance of Arendt's ideas and how important they were to 20th century thought with regards to absolutism. In the wake of the Holocaust, she was the first to really analyse totalitarianism and how it rears its ugly head in 'The Origins of Totalitarianism'. Her political views were anti- one-size-fits-all and she identified how political and existential voids 'made atrocious ideas welcome'. In contrast to Sophie K Rosa's 'Radical Intimacies', Arendt thought intimacies of bodily and private life should not be matters of public concern, whereas the former believes that our intimate relations shape the outside world. This reflects Arendt's lack of feminist angle. It was interesting to learn about her idea that the 'banality of evil' is what is really dangerous to democracy - this defence of 'there was nothing I could do about it' excuses in the face of horrific acts, rather than evil people all being vicious ideological monsters. The main argument (I think) is that we do not have the right to obey.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminds me of the Kierkegaard book by Clare Carlisle that came out a few years ago: part biography, part philosophical exposition, with thematic chapters and a fractured chronology. It's a great way to present Arendt's life and work, giving a reasonably complete overview of her thought.

Stonebridge, in the manner contemporary academics, is judgmental in calling out Arendt's errors regarding American racial history. I would have preferred that she explained her subject's thinking rather than labeling it "wrong." I would also liked to know something about Arendt's position on Zionism, which is not discussed here.

It's not a difficult book to read and it makes a case for Arendt's importance and continued relevance. The copy I read could have used some editorial polishing. To give a few examples, Berkeley is hardly a "sunny" corner of California, and Eichmann at one point is accused of "making up" clichés, which is impossible by definition.

[J.Istsfor Manity · Rating 3 out of 5]

But what needed to be understood was not how all Germans were as evil and guilty as their leaders: clearly, they were not. More troubling was how the ordinary bourgeois German had turned executioner not because there was a gun at their head, but because they had persuaded themselves, with remarkable effortlessness, that a job was a job and feeding the family came first. How had evil been organized so that it became so commonplace? That was the question. 


***

There was a palpable sense of relief that it was now possible to leave the earth behind. This was mad, she thought. The earth is the very quintessence of the human condition. The world that men wanted to escape was the one which they had made themselves. 

— Lyndsey Stonebridge / We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt's Lessons in Love and Disobedience

[Matthew Molinaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyndsey stonebridge has to be one of my favourite public intellectuals—just a tonic who has incisive critiques of culture, history, and politics. so I've been hearing about we are free for a while and listening to her meditations on Arendt's thought.

this book moves so beautifully through Arendt and the contexts of her thinking, and living. it refuses a linear structure and demands rigorous engagement with the liveliness of our politics against the sedimentation of totalitarianism in thought and in action.

my favourite chapter was Stonebridge's work on Arendt and race. it is thrilling.

also Stonebridge's descriptions of Arendt's smoking do indeed make me want to have a drunken cig with her sometime, but alas, we shall see. really wonderful work!

[Catherine Veronis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honest but also celebratory review of Arendt’s life and work. Allows you to earnestly consider American politics as now tipping into autocracy. The best parts by far were when Stonebridge tracked down the moments when Arendt paused in her life for reflection and recovery from the brutal crimes she wrote about, like being in a museum of statues in Athens and thinking about the afterlife. I loved what Arendt thought about being born twice - at first, as an infant from the genetic permutations of your parents, and second, as a thinking adult who is born again from the permutations of opinions and values you expose yourself to - and the more pluralistic that process, the more you expose youself to, the better. It was such a thoughtful book!!

[Kirstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The human world is built on little more than the necessities and hazards of living, speaking, and being human together. The little more, of course, is also everything there is. It is on this precious ground, Hannah Arendt believed, recognizing both our powerlessness in our courage, our banality and our splendor, that we are free to start something new in the world.”
Pg 305

A book that so beautifully shows the ways in which Hannah Arendt’s views of the world, and humanity, are both complicated and timeless. It was a treat to dive back into the despondent and still hopeful world of Arendt and see the parallels of her time and ours. Her words on love are particularly moving to me.

[Stephan Leemen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is een zeer goede intellectuele biografie van Hannah Arendt, ondanks de -althans volgens mij- interpretatiefoutjes vooraan in het boek in verband met de betekenis van Verstand en Vernunft bij Kant. De manier waarop Stonebridge actualiseert maakt het tot een waardevol boek voor onze tijd. Ze stelt zich doorheen het boek in Arendts plaats (dat is denken, overigens) en laat haar op het einde (terecht) zeggen: "Now pay attention and get on with the work of resisting the sorry reality that you find yourselves in. And for goodness' sake - a puff of smoke, raising a glass of Campari - have some fun!" Dat kun je alleen maar beamen.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My notion was that this might be a by-the-numbers bio of Arendt but was unbelievably pleased that this was so much more than that. Stonebridge brilliantly reaches across a few decades to bring Arendt to life here in both dialogue and spirit to celebrate, reexamine, and expand on her existence and thought. She has an uncanny knack for this and only makes a few requisite stumbles that are seemingly required for insertion in our current era which Arendt might have dismissed. Still, it was a wonderful book from beginning to end.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

La académica y periodista francobritánica acaba de publicar Somos libres de cambiar el mundo. Pensar como Hannah Arendt (Ariel), un libro tan original y deslumbrante como de difícil clasificación que combina biografía, filosofía y actualidad para recuperar el pensamiento de Arendt como una luminosa guía que ilumine nuestros tiempos oscuros, como oscuros fueron los de la pensadora y orgullosa paria.

Leer aquí la reseña / entrevista completa:
https://www.elmundo.es/la-lectura/202...

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read “The Banality of Evil” at least three times, I have not had a particularly favorable opinion of Arendt’s work. This book made me rethink and revisit her. I believe this author is too close to her subject and has clear bias, but I believe she succeeds in portraying Arendt as well-intentioned and thoughtful. Arendt’s biggest mistake, in my opinion, was being careless in her thoughts, however passionate they may have been. This book humanizes and honors her in a way that is commendable.