On Revolution (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) [Paperback]

Hannah Arendt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 014018421X | ISBN-13: 978-0140184211 | Publication Date: February 8, 1991

Tracing the gradual evolution of revolutions since the American and French examples, Arendt predicts the changing relationship between war and revolution and the crucial role such combustive movements will play in the future of international relations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dr. Arendt's mind has always seemed to me something of an eighth wonder; an erudite and disciplined thinker, she still retains the ebullient intuition of a woman able always to come at things from a fresh and unusual angle. This is a study to which the thoughtful reader can return again and again for both intellectual delight and profit.”–Atlantic --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Hannnah Arendt (1906-1975) was for many years University Professor of Political Philosophy in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and a Visiting Fellow of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. She is also the author of Eichmann in Jerusalem, On Revolution, and Between Past and Future (all available from Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics).

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (February 8, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014018421X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140184211
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) taught political science and philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York and the University of Chicago. Widely acclaimed as a brilliant and original thinker, her works include Eichmann in Jerusalem and The Human Condition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, May 3, 2000

By 

Daniel Raul Brieba Melo - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Revolution (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

This book is yet another deep, original and controversial contribution of Hannah Arendt to twentieth century political theory. In this book, Arendt analyzes the phenomenon of revolution by focusing almost exclusively on the great XVIIIth century revolutions, the American and the French. Arendt's deep insights allow her to compare, both on a theoretical and a practical level, the similarities and differences between the two and on how and why the American Revolution allowed the foundation of freedom while the French failed miserably in this attempt almost from the beginning. The great themes in this book are the social question (necessity) in its relation to politics (the realm of freedom) and the ever-present distinction between liberation and freedom properly speaking. Thus, constitutions and their significance, the problem of secular law in relation to its need for an Absolute with which to provide a foundation for it, the problem of hypocrisy and Robespierre's Terror, and insightful interpretations of some of the Founding Fathers' political thought (though in my opinion a bit too far reaching in her inferences thereof), are all issues with which she deals with in this book and which are rounded up in a great closing chapter. Deep, powerful, perceptive, intense: like most of Arendt's writings, a must read for anyone interested in political thought and theory.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On "On Revolution", January 11, 2007

By 

Jack Vida "College Kid" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Revolution (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin) (Paperback)

On Revolution by Hannah Arendt is a philosophical study of the nature of revolutions, mainly focusing on the French and American revolutions. A big portion of her analysis involves the "Social Question" involved in revolutions. How do revolutions start? Even though her writing style can be convoluted and overly verbose at times, eventually the reader will acclimate to her not so accessible prose. This is not a light read. If you want a book to stimulate internal dialogue, however, this is the book to buy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Classic 20th Century Study On Revolution, October 25, 2011

By 

strega2 "strega2" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Revolution (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

I first read this brilliant and classic study of the nature of revolutions as a college student in the late 1960s, when a cultural revolution was indeed occurring in the U.S. After watching the media coverage of today's angry protesters against unregulated capitalism, it was well worth re-reading.

Dr. Arendt analyzes the implications of 3 major revolutions, the American, French and Russian. The only truly successful one was the American, because it was grounded in the ideals of the Enlightenment, as well as the classical values espoused by the Founding Fathers. The French and Russian revolutions were rooted in class hatred and resentment of exploitation, a sentiment that is chillingly becoming a reality today. She herself lived through the terror of being a Jew in 1930s Germany, and barely escaped deportation to a concentration camp. Although her writing style is always disciplined, her own experience, in my opinion, colors her analysis of the French and Russian revolutions: violent uprising often leads to an even more repressive form of government that the one overthrown.

Her analysis of the success of the American Revolution, and the ensuing chaos and bloodshed that followed the French and Russian, is still among the most important political observations of the 20th century. A classic, and a prescient warning in our economically unstable time.