Published in 1970 (first published 1968)
285 pages
Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975) is considered one of the most important and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Origins of Totalitarianism and the essay collection Men in Dark Times.
What is this book about?
A book of short essays spanning persons and principles from a broad landscape, this is Arendt at her most accessible. The language here, while familiar, is different, sometimes even poetic. The freedom afforded by the nature of the book itself unleashes Arendt to probably her most facile use of English, unburdened by her native language German constructions which sometimes has forced readers of her other works to revive the sixth grade lost skill of diagraming sentences to properly attach the many predicates to the many subjects found in a single sentence spanning entire long paragraphs. None of that here. Learned, accessible and illuminating, Men in Dark Times is a unique and extremely rewarding opportunity to come close, even personal, with one of the three or four of the 20th century’s most profound, utterly brilliant, minds. A great treasure.
Essays – Karl Jaspers, Rosa Luxemburg, Pope John XXIII, Isak Dinesen, Bertolt Brecht, Randall Jarrell, and others whose lives and work illuminated the early part of the century.
