We Are Free to Change the World

Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience

Lyndsey Stonebridge author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:25th Jan '24

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We Are Free to Change the World cover

This bold new take on the life and ideas of political philosopher Hannah Arendt explores her lessons for living in an age of uncertainty.

'Compelling and original' OBSERVER

'Invigorating and insightful'FINANCIAL TIMES

Born in the first decade of the last century, Hannah Arendt escaped fascist Europe to make a new life for herself in America, where she became one of the world's most influential - and controversial - public intellectuals.

She wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all about freedom. Questioning was her first defence against tyranny. In place of the forces of darkness and insanity, she pitched a politics of plurality, spontaneity, and defiance. Loving the world, Arendt taught, meant finding the courage to protect it.

Written with passion and authority, Lyndsey Stonebridge's We Are Free to Change the World illuminates Arendt's life and work and its urgent dialogue with our troubled present. It calls on each of us to think our way, as Hannah Arendt did - unflinchingly, lovingly, and defiantly - through our own unpredictable times.

An exhilarating, brilliant and utterly original read; an iconic 20th century figure brought to life in all her facets, splendours and complexities -- Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
Compelling and original * Observer *
Invigorating and insightful… An exhilarating and thoroughly humanising portrait of one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century… With impressive clarity and infectious passion, she follows the currents of Arendt’s thought to a rousing conclusion * Financial Times *
Erudite and passionate... A superb read -- Maria Popova * The Marginalian *
From Arendt’s life and work Stonebridge fashions a map for navigating our present-day struggles and concerns * Times Literary Supplement *
An absorbing new biography… Stonebridge does an admirable job… She imagines her way into Arendt’s life, in places literally retracing her subject’s footsteps, sensing the climate and smelling the (typically smoke-filled) air in an effort of understanding * Economist *
In this extraordinary book, Lyndsey Stonebridge details the life and thought of Hannah Arendt in ways that speak to our troublesome times. We get a sense of the expansiveness of Arendt’s thought - her vulnerabilities and her complexity - with stories and intimate details that reveal Stonebridge’s love of her. Beautifully written, We Are Free to Change the World is biography at its best -- Eddie Glaude, author of Begin Again
Expertly analysed and beautifully written, Stonebridge on Arendt is a rare gem, combining complex history and stark contemporary resonance with sparks of hope that we really are free to change the world -- Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, author of On Liberty
Both a warmly engaging intellectual biography and a tract for the times, this is a needful reminder of what political thinking looks like when it is humane, literate and radical all at once -- Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury
A passionate, original defence of the politics of thinking, and especially of women thinking in public, We Are Free to Change the World is witty, moving and inspiring, at once fiercely angry and a work of deep moral wisdom -- Sarah Churchwell, author of Behold, America

ISBN: 9781787332522

Dimensions: 242mm x 165mm x 28mm

Weight: 506g

304 pages