Forthcoming Book: Hannah Arendt

“What is the subject of our thought? Experience! Nothing else!” Hannah Arendt exclaimed in 1972 at a conference on “The Work of Hannah Arendt,” which had been organized by the Toronto Society for the Study of Social and Political Thought. Arendt was invited to attend the conference as a guest of honor, and insisted on participating instead.

For Arendt all thinking moves from experience, and the experiences of her life as a German Jewish émigré in the 20th century shaped her political and philosophical thought. Raised in a well-established secular family, arrested by the Gestapo in Berlin, interned in Gurs in the South of France, stateless for eighteen years, Arendt’s work moves from the material conditions of the historical moment she lived in. Weaving together archival documents, correspondence, lecture notes, diaries, and journal entries this manuscript will offer a portrait of Hannah Arendt’s life, while tracing the key ideas throughout her thinking. From Arendt’s early education in German philosophy and romance with Martin Heidegger, through her turn toward politics and forced emigration to France, to her life in New York and reportage on the trial of Adolph Eichmann, this biography will introduce readers to the life and work of Hannah Arendt.