HANNAH ARENDT (1906–1975) was one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant and original political thinkers. A prolific essayist and philosopher throughout her life, she studied philosophy at the University of Heidelberg under Karl Jaspers. She was University Professor of Political Philosophy in the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research for many years, as well as a Visiting Fellow of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.