Human Condition

Second Edition

Arendt Hannah

The past year has seen a resurgence of interest in the political thinker Hannah Arendt, "the theorist of beginnings", whose work probes the logics underlying unexpected transformations – from totalitarianism to revolution.

A work of striking originality, "The Human Condition" is in many respects more relevant now than when it first appeared in 1958. In her study of the state of modern humanity, Hannah Arendt considers humankind from the perspective of the actions of which it is capable. The problems Arendt identified then – diminishing human agency and political freedom, the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our actions – continue to confront us today. This new edition, published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of its original publication, contains Margaret Canovan's 1998 introduction and a new foreword by Danielle Allen.

A classic in political and social theory, "The Human Condition" is a work that has proved both timeless and perpetually timely.

About the Author

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German-American political theorist. Her works deal with the nature of power, and the subjects of politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, Princeton University, and Northwestern University. In the spring of 1959, she became the first woman lecturer at Princeton. Arendt also taught at the University of Chicago, where she was a member of the Committee on Social Thought; The New School in Manhattan; Yale University, where she was a fellow; and, the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University. Arendt was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1962 and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1964.

Back to the list of books