Uncovering the Dark History of Totalitarianism: Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism"

DUSA: Scholarship and elegant writing at its best.

United States on Dec 03, 2023

Corn Cob: I will not go into my own preferences for political candidates. I merely urge U.S. citizens to read this book before making their own decisions.

Its definition: “Totalitarian politics...use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of factual reality, from which the ideologies originally derived their strength and their propaganda value...have all but disappeared.” How the presentations of the political campaign are done is important. Any connection with facts, as we best know them, are irrelevant.

From its description in this book, totalitarianism seems like a religion to me. Followers of this religion are not interested in facts, and not even invented facts (lies). Totalitarian leaders often lie, but then claim their lies were the result of tactical cleverness. There followers admire this because it shows their leader is “so smart”.

Totalitarianism is often supported by “conspiracy theories” where random occurrences are claimed too unlikely to be random, and must the result of a conspiracy. It is not comforting to know some things happen just by chance. “Totalitarian propaganda thrives on this escape from reality...

United States on Sep 02, 2023

T. Peters: Not a light read. I will leave to the philosophers wiser descriptions. However if one wants to both understand totalitarianism as well as see solutions to prevent or get rid of it, this book is excellent.

Canada on Sep 02, 2022

Emmanuel JOUAN: How on earth can Amazon put in the same category, i.e. fascism, hannah arendt reference work on totalitarianism together with Alex Jones and other conspiracy theories jugglers.
and they are number one in that very category !!!

this is a sign of our times... and Amazon holds responsibility in spreading and promoting gut-grabbing instincts and books.

it is enough to read the presentation of Alex Jones item for sale and compare that with the presentation of Hannah Arendt's book to see that for Jones the riding of "totalitarianism" wave is only a sales pitch and an argument for making money, this was not Hannah Arendt intent.

Do yourself a favour and take the time to nurture your critical mind with a genuine work, result of years of research, the Origins of Totalitarianism will leave a strong imprint that will, no doubt, help you understand the confusion that is developing

To understand a little further the complexity of our world and how Totalitarianism is now being wrapped up in Internet connectivity, refer to Zuboff's Age of Surveillance Capitalism and you will not need the Jones and company to sell you their biased commercial addictive...

Italy on Aug 05, 2022

Clay Garner: “ IT IS ALMOST impossible even now to describe what actually happened in Europe on August 4, 1914. The days before and the days after the first World War are separated not like the end of an old and the beginning of a new period, but like the day before and the day after an explosion.’’

This work focuses on the post WW1 period. Nevertheless, covers the development of European thought after the French Revolution. Uses anti-semitism to illustrate the degrading of human life and loss of human dignity. Detailed analysis of the Dreyfus affair and the role of Disraeli in England. Outstanding!

“Yet this figure of speech is as inaccurate as are all others, because the quiet of sorrow which settles down after a catastrophe has never come to pass. The first explosion seems to have touched off a chain reaction in which we have been caught ever since and which nobody seems to be able to stop. The first World War exploded the European comity of nations beyond repair, something which no other war had ever done.”

The central role of 1914 in history is key in understanding present.

“Inflation destroyed the whole class of small property owners beyond hope...

United States on Sep 20, 2020

Bianca: Purchased for academic research. Overall low quality copy of this text for the price. The ink is inconsistent in that it is blotchy and then faded.

Note: Book cover is different than advertised. It is a red and black cover.

Canada on Jan 29, 2020

Kindle Customer: This book is one of the basic texts for its subject; required reading, you might say.
That said, I feel that I should warn potential readers that the book represents the opposite of "light reading ". Arendt's prose feels like swimming in glue.
For your trouble, Arendt provides timeless insights into totalitarianism. These are well worth the effort.

Canada on Jan 11, 2019

D Wiatzka: A terrific analysis of the evolution of totalitarianism in early 20th century Europe. Although at times pedantic, Ms Arendt traces the elements of politics, culture and economics which critically contributed to development of authoritarian states across Europe and, subsequently, the totalitarian regimes of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. She also gives perspective on how those movements evolved from the "mobs" of the 19th century. This in turn provides perspective on present day international political movements and which of them have the elements and characteristics of pre totalitarian movements. Given the ever growing numbers of stateless peoples and refugees, this book is a vital reminder why recent generations instituted declarations of international human rights and why laws were created to accord refugees and the stateless rights under the law in our societies. Without such laws any and all societies risks degenerating into such horror. That said, it was not only racism which gave us totalitarianism, it was also the quest for a classless society. We must remember that path to totalitarianism as well.

Canada on Jun 20, 2017

Jeff Miller: The content of the ebook is very faithful to the printerd version, and it's pretty easy to navigate. I would like to make it easier to bookmark and copy/paste quotes from the book into MSFT word, etc, and it would be really great if you could take advantage of the digital version to quickly and easily see supporting sources (hovering over a citation number shows the source itself, for example) instead of having to click on the number and then going back to your original page. Overall it was definitely worth the money that I paid.

United States on May 15, 2017