Wir sind frei, die Welt zu verändern: Hannah Arendts Lektionen in Liebe und Ungehorsam

by Lindsey Stonebridge

Dieses Buch bringt uns die Hannah Arendt nahe, die wir für das 21. Jahrhundert brauchen. Es erzählt, wie die charismatische Philosophin zu ihrem eigenen, sehr besonderen Denken kam, und erklärt, wie wir denken sollten, wenn unsere Politik aus den Fugen gerät. Mit Leidenschaft und brillanter Expertise beleuchtet Lyndsey Stonebridge Arendts Leben und Werk, bringt sie in einen Dialog mit unserer unruhigen Gegenwart – und fordert uns dazu auf, so zu denken wie Hannah unerschütterlich, liebevoll und trotzig.

Die Umwälzungen unserer heutigen Welt wären Arendt nur allzu vertraut gewesen. Tyrannei, Rassismus, postfaktische Politik, Verschwörungstheorien, Massenmigration, die Banalität des Bö Alles hat sie erlebt. Arendt wurde zu Beginn des letzten Jahrhunderts geboren und floh aus dem faschistischen Europa, um sich in Amerika ein neues Leben aufzubauen. Dort wurde sie zu einer der einflussreichsten – und umstrittensten – öffentlichen Intellektuellen der Welt. Sie schrieb über Macht und Terror, Exil und Liebe, aber vor allem über die Freiheit. Fragen und Denken – darin bestand ihre erste Verteidigung gegen jede Form der Tyrannei, der sie eine Politik der menschlichen Pluralität und Spontaneität entgegensetzte. Die Welt zu lieben, so lehrt uns Arendt, bedeutet, den Mut zu finden, sie zu schützen.

Hannah Arendt, fotografiert von Fred Stein VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023.

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

Audible Audio

Published February 21, 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.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als Einführung in Arendts Werk geeignet, wenn man schon was gelesen hat. Ohne sich mit den wichtigsten Originalschriften auseinandergesetzt zu haben, sollte man aber eher nicht zu diesem Buch greifen. Stonebridge ist angetreten, Arendt zu verteidigen und in Schutz zu nehmen, was ein bisschen wie die bockige Reaktion einer Verehrerin daher kommt, die nicht versteht, warum die anderen das Objekt ihrer Verehrung nicht lieb haben. Daher wird oft nicht klar, warum sich die Bewertungen des Ansatzes von Arendt so verschoben haben, dass ihre immer noch Gewinn bringende Rezeption heute vor allem im Modus der Auseinandersetzung stattfindet.

Gut lesbar und informativ ist der Text in den biografischen Passagen, wobei das Biografische für Stonebridge meist als Erklärungsansatz für Eigenheiten des Arendtschen Denkens herhalten muss. Das überzeugt nicht immer. Wenn z.B. postuliert wird, dass sie in der "Judenfrage" dem historischen Antisemitismus jeglichen Erklärungswert für den modernen industriellen Massenmord absprach, dann hätte man gerne mehr über ihre Stellung zum Judentum gewusst. Sie sei für die Zwei-Staaten-Lösung gewesen, weil sie sich in das Schicksal der palästinensischen Flüchtlinge als künftige Staatenlose gut hätte hineinversetzen können. (vgl. 127) Das ist wohl so, aber war das der einzige Grund ein Großisrael abzulehnen?

Ähnlich unausgewogen erscheint der Umgang mi den geistigen Einflüssen. Immer wieder wird Kant genannt, dann natürlich Heidegger, Jaspers u.a. Ihren Marx, die Luxemburg (und nicht doch auch noch andere Sozialisten?) habe sie schon früh gelesen, heißt es, aber hatten Werke der Genannten gar keinen Einfluss auf ihr Denken? Warum lehnte sie Marx ab und warum zog sie nicht wenigstens aus der Auseinandersetzung mit Luxemburg Schlussfolgerungen zur Rolle des Wirtschaftlichen in der Politik? Die beschränkt sich bei Arendt auf die Analyse der Auswirkungen von Verelendung auf das von ihr negativ bewertete Gewaltpotential, das in der Voksarmut schlummere und in Revolutionen (außer der amerikanischen) leider regelmäßig zum Ausbruch käme. Hätte Stonebridge hier ein wenig eingehender nachgehakt, hätte sie vielleicht Gründe dafür gefunden, warum sich Arendt so schwer tat u.a. auf die Rolle der Sklaverei in den USA oder das Schicksal der Nachfahren der Sklaven sachgerecht einzugehen.

Das alles meint, dass Stonebridge Arendt dort verteidigt, wo sie in der geistigen Sphäre zu Recht oder zu Unrecht angegriffen wurde und wird, ohne die Fixierung auf den "Geist" selbst infrage zu stellen. Im Gegenteil stellt sie sich vor, wie antike Skulpturen auf Arendt gewirkt haben könnten und welchen Einfluss das dann auf ihr Denken hatte. Das sind die menschelnden Passagen, die den Text auflockern, ansonsten aber nicht davon überzeugen können, dass die Besuche von Museen "auf Arendts Spuren" der Analyse nützen würden.

Irritiert hat mich, dass Stonebridge Aimé Césaire für eine "Dichterin und Politikerin" (175) hält, was dem Mann Unrecht tut. Davon ab scheint aber sauber recherchiert worden zu sein und dir Quellen und Belege weisen die Stellungnahmen der Autorin als eine ernst zu nehmende Sichtweise auf Person und Werk von Hannah Arendt aus. Aktuell sind die Bezüge, die zur gegenwärtigen Lage in den USA sowie - gelegentlich - zum identitären politischen Aktivismus hergestellt werden. Wir wissen zwar nicht, ob Arendt die Dinge tatsächlich so gesehen hätte wie ihre Interpretin, aber was diese dazu denkt, kann man unterschreiben. Das ist sicher ein Pluspunkt. So wäre es in der Tat ganz amüsant, die Ausführungen zu "Eichmann in Jerusalem" mal ganz unabhängig von der Betroffenheits-Rhetorik damals wie heute als einen "frühen Angriff auf die Kultur des moralischen Schaulaufens" (345) zu lesen. Das stieß damals auf Kritik und löst heute noch Wutgeheul aus, dabei ist es aus verschiedenen Gründen völlig richtig, die Aufarbeitung von Tatbeständen und die Suche nach den wahren Antrieben und Motiven des Völkermords von den Emotionen der Überlebenden zu trennen. Dasselbe trifft auf Wissenschaft zu, die kein politischer Aktivismus sein und sich von demselben (und seinen Emotionen) ebenfalls nicht leiten lassen sollte.

In diesem Sinne sei das Buch denjenigen, die sich für Hannah Arendt interessieren und die mehr über ihr Leben und ihre Nachwirkungen und Wirkungen erfahren wollen, gerne empfohlen. Für eine tiefer gehende Auseinandersetzung eignet es sich eher nicht.

[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)

[Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not quite sure what to call this book - it’s certainly biographical, but probably more akin to an in-depth introduction to Hannah Arendt’s work - but I enjoyed it and profited from it immensely. Arendt is the kind of thinker it pays to return to frequently throughout one’s life, and Stonebridge has some excellent distillations of her thought, often in the form of one-liners (one of my favorites, paraphrased: superfluous money makes superfluous people) that stick in one’s brain. Those two facts alone make this worth reading.

I don’t think this is a perfect book, however. There were a couple of times where I felt like a profound insight was being reached for but not quite attained. And this book, despite being recently published, seems to already be showing its age - there’s plenty of talk of Trump’s first term that might have been taken as insightful three years ago, but now appears painfully obvious. That is hardly the author’s fault (and freedom, as Arendt might argue, is dependent on precisely these kinds of contingencies), but it is unfortunate.

Nevertheless, Stonebridge’s passion for Arendt is infectious, and I found myself eagerly grabbing it first thing in the morning, often at times when I know I should have been trying to get a few more hours of sleep.

[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.

[Matthew Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and engaging study of a philosopher and thinker whose ideas seem constantly relevant to the mess we’re in. Stonebridge is not blind to Arendt’s failings, but her clear-eyed analysis of her strengths makes you want to go and seek out the woman herself.

[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

[Jared Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Are Free to Change the World attempts to be several books at once: a life of Hannah Arendt, a topical guide to her thought, and reflection on her relevance today. That it mostly holds together is a credit to author Lyndsey Stonebridge, who has clearly read Arendt exhaustively and has a talent for drawing out the most insightful elements of her thought.

The book follows the contours of Arendt's life, building respectfully on Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's extensive biography (1982, updated 2004) while adding texture from original research. There are almost too many superb anecdotes to recount here, but a few are worth naming. Stonebridge has Arendt staying up late in Jerusalem arguing with Golda Meir—then foreign minister, later prime minister—over Israel's racialized restrictions on marriage. She recovers Arendt's unanswered letters to James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison, which together capture the range from arrogance to reflection: lecturing Baldwin on Blackness on the one hand, and on the other admitting she had been "somehow wrong," conceding Ellison's critique of her ill-advised dismissal of integration efforts in the South. And there is W.H. Auden's awkward (and promptly rejected) marriage proposal to Arendt after her husband Heinrich Blücher's death, made when both were in their sixties.

The book is organized chronologically and topically at once. Three of the middle chapters—three through five, respectively "How to Think Like a Refugee," "How to Love," and "How to Think—and How Not to Think—about Race"—stood out for me especially. As those anecdotes suggest, Stonebridge handles the difficult subject of Arendt and race exceptionally well. She makes a convincing case that, despite Arendt's failure to support school integration in the South, much of her work—including The Origins of Totalitarianism—was very much focused on race. Stonebridge does not shy away from criticism where it is due, nor does she force resolution where none can logically be found (Arendt's rekindled ties to Heidegger after the war is richly developed in this way).

Holding the book together is what Stonebridge calls her "critical imagination," which she describes, citing Arendt, as "think[ing] your own thoughts but in the place of somebody else." This is what licenses her to draw connections to figures and events nearer our own time, from Donald Trump to the Arab Spring to Black Lives Matter. Her research included retracing Arendt's steps, and while this is not essential to the book, it yields interesting texture—among them the Hannah Arendt Haus, "dedicated to stories of flight, new beginnings, and resistance," including those of a Yemeni scholar and refugee.

Two minor criticisms. As may be clear from the book's lengthy title and subtitle, it stretches meet all its stated goals. It does not quite succeed as a biography, leaning a bit too heavily on Young-Bruehl's earlier work, and it is not quite focused enough to break new ground on even the most compelling topics it explores. While the book is hardly under-researched, it is also fair to say Stonebridge has neither produced a standalone original biography nor taken more than an incidental dive into the Arendt-inspired secondary scholarship on any of the topics she discusses.

After the first couple of chapters, I came to think of the book as Stonebridge's extended commentary on Arendt—and judged on that basis I think it very much succeeds. She has thought deeply about Arendt's context and our own, and is talented at putting the pieces together in a way that brings Arendt alive again for our times.

[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.

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a while to get through this (short audiobook), but it picked up around Chapter 5 / once I conceded to listening to it at 1.25 speed. Arendt is an interesting historical figure and this was a decent introduction to reading philosophy versus going straight to the texts. Chapter 6 - how not to think was the real highlight of the book, which discussed how totalitarianism thrives on pervasive cynicism and social isolation.

“ Nazi and Bolshevik propagandists quickly mastered the art of turning coincidences into plots, and making the conspiracies seem real. random events were interpreted as portance and confirmations. But, while they temporarily gave the illusion of coherence, the storytelling and lies, did not end the chaos; enemies and their plots had to be constantly invented. There were never enough of them. It was exhausting. far from unifying, isolated, scared, and angry people into a great nation or redemptive movement, the reality of having to live with multiple lies made this situation more chaotic. More fictions more hate, and bigger lies were always needed. It became so difficult to distinguish back from fiction that entire populations gave up trying.” (Stonebridge)

Much of Arendt’s writing and thinking was scarily and insightfully correct about many emergent systemic issues that define the fractures of our world today, such as this and her writing on consumerism. Crazy that she wrote this and died before cell phones and Amazon were even conceptualized. An extremely “fun” fact from this book is that one 1973 issue of The New Yorker magazine featured excerpts that would later become I think The Life of the Mind by Arendt, in addition to writings by James Baldwin and Silver Spring by Rachel Carson. Made me think those who harp about how Regan is responsible for dooming America are on to something. Maybe I’ll read the origins of totalitarianism at some point, as it was said to read like a novel, and provides foundational understandings for what modern antisemitism truly is, or I’ll read Baldwin (maybe straight to the source!)

[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.

[Ines Kassap · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wir sind frei, die Welt zu verändern ist mehr als eine Biografie – es ist eine eindrucksvolle Annäherung an das Leben und Denken von Hannah Arendt als teils widersprüchliche, starke Persönlichkeit.

Besonders berührt hat mich meine persönliche Verbindung zu ihren Lebensstationen: Hannover und Marburg sind für mich nicht nur Orte, sondern auch geistige Räume, die ich selbst nachempfinden kann. Auch das Gefühl, zwischen Kulturen zu stehen, hat für mich eine Parallele – wenn auch in anderer Form als Arendts Erfahrung als Jüdin ihrer Zeit.

Das Buch zeigt eindrücklich, wie sehr Arendt durch ihre Beziehungen geprägt wurde – nicht romantisch verklärt, sondern als geistige Partnerschaften, aus denen sie schöpfte. Gleichzeitig bleibt sie klar eigenständig, oft sogar überlegen.

Spannend ist ihre Ambivalenz: Trotz der politischen Verirrungen mancher Weggefährten hielt sie den Kontakt. Das wirkt irritierend und regt zum Nachdenken an – ebenso wie ihre kontroversen Positionen in den USA. Man bewundert sie, zweifelt an ihr und denkt an einigen Stellen: „Oh je…“

Gerade diese Widersprüche machen das Buch so stark. Es zeigt keine perfekte Denkerin, sondern einen Menschen, der das Handwerk des Denkens weiter geben kann.

[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!