The Reluctant Modernism of Hannah Arendt

In this re-examination of the political thought of Hannah Arendt, Seyla Benhabib decentres the standard and widespread reading of Arendt′s work, in which Arendt′s The Human Condition dominates, and discovers Arendt′s political philosophy in the light of newly gained insights into the historical and cultural context of Arendt′s complete work. This eloquently written book includes discussions of Arendt′s neglected early text on Rahel Varnhagen, her confrontation with German Existenz philosophy and Zionist politics, Arendt′s theory of totalitarianism, and the paradoxes of the rights of man. Hannah Arendt′s political thought anticipates some of the major preoccupations of today′s identity politics, from gender to nationalism and ethnicity.