Between Past and Future

Arendt describes the loss of meaning of the traditional key words of politics: justice, reason, responsibility, virtue, glory. Through a series of eight exercises, she shows how we can redistill once more the vital essence of these concepts.

Arendt describes the loss of meaning of the traditional key words of politics: justice, reason, responsibility, virtue, glory. Through a series of eight exercises, she shows how we can redistill once more the vital essence of these concepts.

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) came to the U.S. as a refugee from the Nazis in 1940. The Portable Hannah Arendt (Penguin Classics) collects substantial excerpts from her political writings.

Amos Elon, a frequent essayist, lecturer, and critic, is well known for his articles in the New Yorker and New York Review of Books.

Jerome Kohn is the director of the Hannah Arendt Center at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research.

Jonathan Schell is the Harold Willens Peace Fellow at the Nation Institute.