Hannah Arendt: A History of Food in Russia

an important book

So well researched and charming little book well suited to people new to Arendt biography and to those well acquainted

Samantha Rose Hill accurately describes her intellectual biography of Hannah Arendt as "introductory." A slender volume, it is at once over-ambitious and insufficiently ambitious. Hill's ambition is to provide a coherent introduction to the life and each of many important works of an almost unbelievably prolific thinker and writer. In my disputable opinion, Hill employs too much shorthand and frequent terse summaries that I found often too abstract or theoretical to connect to Arendt's great, lifelong project of writing from reality. Thus I thought the book insufficiently ambitious, particularly for those of us who have read Arendt in articles or excerpts, have only modest knowledge of the most important works, and are drawn to intellectual biography for keys to a subject's life, thought, and significance. I thought Hill's editor was remiss in allowing her, particularly in the important central 1950s chapters, to sometimes leave us hanging in the air with a missing connection to a work or an idea or a particular Arendtian word usage. A little more fleshing out would have helped. Elsewhere, gossipy passages took up valuable space without actually shedding light on Arendt or her work. And then there's the name-dropping list of all the brilliant friends, attracted by Arendt's gigantic intellect, that she harvested. (Who would have thought both W.H. Auden AND Hans Morganthau, in their 60s, proposed marriage to Arendt, also in her 60s, after the death of Arendt's husband?) I would have greatly appreciated a more capacious 25-50 or so pages of additional explication, spread across the works.Many chapters, however, and particularly the ones that focus on Arendt's more popular writing in the New Yorker or in literary reviews and newspaper articles, are excellent, answer questions raised by Arendt herself or by Hill's commentary, and are, as they stand, perfectly self-sufficient.As a guide to further study, Hill provides a useful select bibliography of significant titles in English and German. Moreover, she includes a fairly extensive gallery of photographs of Arendt, her family, and of course her distinguished friends.If you've taken the time to read these words, I'll hazard to guess you're interested in Hannah Arendt. Consequently, I would recommend that you dismiss my gripes and read the book. Hill has written a useful, extensively sourced introduction to a unique life and and a still more unique life of the mind. Hannah Arendt is indeed an author for our times, having investigated and commented on many of the potential sources of our political and social maladies, polarization, the drift toward authoritarianism, and the dangers of herd thinking, or more usefully, herd thoughtlessness - the thoughtlessness of the many who who are willing to surrender their minds to those politicians, propagandists, political parties, lobbyists, massive corporations and governmental institutions that strive every day to colonize our minds. These are challenges, political, social, and moral, that we have to address as we approach the abyss that awaits us...unless we find a place for thoughtfulness, pluralism, and other- regarding civility. Hannah Arendt is a useful guide in coming to grips with our political dysfunction, and Samantha Rose Hill has provided a useful vehicle for prompting us to ponder what is to be done.

This is one of the hundred or so splendid Reaktion Books Critical Lives series published in the UK. I say splendid because the series books are printed on the finest paper; full of helpful illustrations and photos; around 200 pages; inexpensive at around $19; and written by extremely qualified authors. It is surprising how much valuable information is included in each volume.The author, who teaches at Bard College where both Hannah and her husband taught, generally follows a chronological format, from her birth in Germany in 1906. The reader soon realizes what a superb German university education she received. Early on much like Isaiah Berlin she decided to forego formal philosophy for studies of political thought. But the reader is always reminded of the intellectual firepower she brought to bear on any issue.Eventually, Arendt after brief periods of incarceration during the second war, moves to the U.S. Intermixed with extensive Zionist activity. As time goes on, her views of Zionism shift which is one reason that Berlin later criticized her. The author has built much of her discussion around Arendt's writings, taking each up in turn and discussing Hannah's activities while she is working on each book. So the reader gains brief introductions to "The Origins of Totalitarianism,""Amor Mundi,""Between Past and Future," "Eichmann in Jerusalem," "On Revolution," "Men in Dark Times,""Crises of the Republic," and The Life of the Mind." I found that this technique of describing what was going on in her life as she wrote a particular book enhanced both the biographical contributions of the book as well as introducing the reader to her range of writings. This is particularly true of the Eichmann chapter which merges both dimensions skillfully.The author is content to tell the life story of Arendt and provide insights into her books. She rightfully in my opinion does not try to evaluate Arendt as a political thinker or how original her insights are. One can only be sad that she died at 69--a couple more decades might have resolve this dispute. The book contains notes and a helpful bibliography. If you are curious about this remarkable woman, then this is the perfect brief introduction to her life and writings.

Hill has written a wonderful biography of Arendt. The author writes clearly, concisely, and in a highly organized manner. The biography starts with Arendt's family and early years through WW I and then her academic studies in Germany, the Nazi period and her eventual settlement in the US.The author blends facts with ideas in a seamless manner. I especially liked Hill's expose of Arendt on Revolutions and its timeless character and presentation. Hill's discussion on the Banality of Evil is balanced and clear. Arendt's choice of the term "banal" has always been a challenge, since she subsequently spent a long time explaining what she meant. One guesses that one must have been "there" to have appreciated her terminology.The book is brief and covers most of the key aspects of Arendt. The Heidegger relationship is covered but the complexity of that relationship is not explored in any significant depth. In my opinion the book by Ettinger adds a great deal to that part of her life.Overall, this is an exceptionally clear, comprehensive, and well written biography of Arendt and well worth reading even if you have been through other works.