Hannah Arendt and the Uses of History: Imperialism, Nation, Race, and Genocide [Hardcover]

Richard H. King (Editor), Dan Stone (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2007

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) first argued that there were continuities between the age of European imperialism and the age of fascism in Europe in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951). She claimed that theories of race, notions of racial and cultural superiority, and the right of 'superior races' to expand territorially were themes that connected the white settler colonies, the other imperial possessions, and the fascist ideologies of post-Great War Europe. These claims have rarely been taken up by historians. Only in recent years has the work of scholars such as Jurgen Zimmerer and A. Dirk Moses begun to show in some detail that Arendt was correct. This collection does not seek merely to expound Arendt's opinions on these subjects; rather, it seeks to use her insights as the jumping-off point for further investigations - including ones critical of Arendt - into the ways in which race, imperialism, slavery and genocide are linked, and the ways in which these terms have affected the United States, Europe, and the colonised world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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." --Dirk Moses --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Richard H. King has taught in the School of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Nottingham since 1983. 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. Dan Stone is Professor of Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of Breeding Superman: Nietzsche, Race and Eugenics in Edwardian and Interwar Britain (2002), Constructing the Holocaust: A Study in Historiography (2003), and Responses to Nazism in Britain, 1933-39: Before the War and Holocaust (2003).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Berghahn Books; First Edition edition (December 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845453611
• ISBN-13: 978-1845453619
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,225,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)