Reviews

Between Past and Future: Eight Exercises in Political Thought by Hannah Arendt

cleogray's review against another edition

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Read several of the essays for a reading group. Decided not to read the rest of the essays on my own.

sliver13's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5

Mostly strong essays, though somewhat meandering. With the sheer number of ideas thrown at the reader, they are quite exhausting (requiring multiple breaks despite the shortness of the book). But every now and then I stumbled on a random aside that just blew me away.

shc's review against another edition

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Between Past and Future: Six Exercises in Political Thought by Hannah Arendt (1961)

vxmlie's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

merv_d's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

4.5

alebzomer's review against another edition

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5.0

Don't miss her take on "The Crisis in Culture" and "Truth and Politics", both essays are a must when reading tomorrow's papers.

karinkim55's review against another edition

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---- čteno z povinnosti do školy ----

Tohle na mě bylo moc mooooc složité. Všechny zvukové elementy mě při čtení snadno rozptylovaly a pak jsem nějaké odstavce musela číst znovu.

djoshuva's review against another edition

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5.0

"It has frequently been noticed that the surest long-term result of brainwashing is a peculiar kind of cynicism – an absolute refusal to believe in the truth of anything, no matter how well this truth may be established. In other words, the result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lies will now be accepted as truth, and the truth be defamed as lies, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world – and the category of truth vs. falsehood is among the mental means to this end – is being destroyed. And for this trouble there is no remedy. It is but the other side of the disturbing contingency of all factual reality. Since everything that has actually happened in the realm of human affairs could just as well have been otherwise, the possibilities for lying are boundless, and this boundlessness makes for self-defeat. Only the occasional liar will find it possible to stick to a particular falsehood with unwavering consistency; those who adjust images and stories to ever-changing circumstances will find themselves floating on the wide-open horizon of potentiality, drifting from one possibility to the next, unable to hold on to any one of their own fabrications."

danamiranda's review against another edition

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4.0

Still need to read Truth and Politics.

frejola's review against another edition

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5.0

Eight essays to grapple with a master of erudition. Arendt is a giant and knows the western history of knowledge deeply, more specifically Ancient Greece, Augustine, Kant. She saw Western Culture, inverted commas, lay defeated to the ground together with the western colonialist project. This book was a challenge for me, it required a deep level of concentration and big gulps of air. The title refers to the gap between past and future which is filled with ritual, tradition, and culture. I must read more of her books.
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