Hannah Arendt and the Uses of History

Richard H. King is Professor (emeritus) of American Intellectual History at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of The Party of Eros (1972), A Southern Renaissance (1980), Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom (1992), Race, Culture and the Intellectuals, 1940-1970 (2004), and has co-edited Dixie Debates (1995) with Helen Taylor.

• IntroductionRichard H. King and Dan StonePART I: IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISMChapter 1. Race Power, Freedom, and the Democracy of Terror in German Racialist ThoughtElisa von Joeden-ForgeyChapter 2. Race Thinking and Racism in Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of TotalitarianismKathryn T. GinesChapter 3. When the Real Crime Began: Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism and the Dignity of the Western Philosophical TraditionRobert BernasconiChapter 4. Race and Bureaucracy Revisited: Hannah Arendt’s Recent Re-Emergence in African StudiesChristopher J. LeeChapter 5. On Pain of Extinction: Laws of Nature and History in Darwin, Marx, and ArendtTony BartaPART II: NATION AND RACEChapter 6. The Refractory Legacy of Decolonization: Revisiting Arendt on ViolenceNed CurthoysChapter 7. Anti-Semitism, the Bourgeoisie, and the Self-Destruction of the Nation-StateMarcel StoetzlerChapter 8. Eichmann’s Mentality and Post-totalitarian PredicamentsVlasta JalušièPART III: INTELLECTUAL GENEALOGIES AND LEGACIESChapter 9. Hannah Arendt on Totalitarianism: Moral Equivalence and Degrees of Evil in Modern Political ViolenceRichard ShortenChapter 10. Hannah Arendt, Biopolitics, and the Problem of ViolenceAndre DuarteChapter 11. The ‘Subterranean Stream of Western HistoryRobert EaglestoneChapter 12. Hannah Arendt and the Old ‘New Science’Steven Douglas MaloneyChapter 13. The Holocaust and ‘the Human’Dan StoneConclusion: Arendt between Past and FutureRichard H. KingBibliographyContributorsIndex

“Singling out particular contributions to this excellent collection is bound to come across as invidious.” · Patterns of Prejudice“Although the contributors touch on a wide variety of themes in Arendt’s work, the volume focuses primarily on her accounts of modern imperialism and racism, attempting to situate Arendt’s analyses in relation to contemporary discussions of these issues. That focus is welcome, for this part of Arendt’s work is indeed of interest, even apart from the somewhat ambiguous place these phenomena occupy in her account of the antecedents to totalitarianism.” · European History Quarterly“…an exceptional collection of essays…a thought-provoking and courageous volume.” · Journal of Genocide Research“…a very important contribution to Arendt studies. Especially in the post-totalitarian world that is marked with genocides in Srebrenica and Rwanda, this collection offers a brilliant illustration of the richness of Arendt's thinking and its relevance to our present political world. …All in all, this collection is a must read for everyone who is interested in Arendt's thought, especially in her views on such issues as totalitarianism, nationalism, genocide, and race.” · H-Ideas“Each essay prompted me to reread and rethink Arendt, and the collection is a notable addition to Arendt Studies.” · German Studies Review“This book’s authors examine the perplexities in Arendt’s thesis from all angles...Richard King’s refined, synoptic essay ties together the book’s themes in an elegant reflection on Arendt’s definition of ‘the right to have rights’… Achieving breadth and keeping focus at the same time, the editors prove that we will not have leave of Arendt’s work for some time to come.” · Journal of American Studies“Hannah Arendt and the Uses of History is a long overdue study of Arendt’s much cited but little understood writings on imperialism and genocide, race and nation. Too frequently treated as political philosopher alone, her historical work is subject here to sympathetic but critical appraisal, revealing at once its brilliant insights and its troubling blind spots. Elegant and erudite, this collection is a major contribution to Arendt scholarship.” · A. Dirk Moses