We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendts Lessons in Love and Disobedience

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This bold new take on the life and ideas of political philosopher Hannah Arendt explores her lessons for living in an age of uncertainty This bold new take on the life and ideas of political philosopher Hannah Arendt explores her lessons for living in an age of uncertainty 'Compelling and original' OBSERVER 'An absorbing new biography... Admirable' ECONOMIST 'Invigorating and insightful' FINANCIAL TIMES The violent unease of today's world would have been all too familiar to Hannah Arendt. Tyranny, occupation, disenchantment, post-truth politics, conspiracy theories, racism, mass migration, the banality of evil- she had lived through them all. Born in the first decade of the last century, Arendt escaped fascist Europe to make a new life for herself in America, where she became one of the world's most influential - and controversial - public intellectuals. She wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all about freedom. Questioning - thinking - was her first defence against tyranny. In place of the forces of darkness and insanity, she pitched a politics of plurality, spontaneity and defiance. Loving the world, Arendt taught, meant finding the courage to protect it. Written with passion and authority, Lyndsey Stonebridge's We Are Free to Change the World illuminates Arendt's life and work and its urgent dialogue with our troubled present. It calls on each of us to think our way, as Hannah Arendt did - unflinchingly, lovingly and defiantly - through our own unpredictable times.

Reviews

An exhilarating, brilliant and utterly original read; an iconic 20th century figure brought to life in all her facets, splendours and complexities -- Philippe Sands, author of East West Street
Compelling and original * Observer *
Invigorating and insightful An exhilarating and thoroughly humanising portrait of one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century With impressive clarity and infectious passion, she follows the currents of Arendts thought to a rousing conclusion * Financial Times *
Erudite and passionate... A superb read -- Maria Popova * The Marginalian *
From Arendts life and work Stonebridge fashions a map for navigating our present-day struggles and concerns * Times Literary Supplement *
An absorbing new biography Stonebridge does an admirable job She imagines her way into Arendts life, in places literally retracing her subjects footsteps, sensing the climate and smelling the (typically smoke-filled) air in an effort of understanding * Economist *

Author Bio

Lyndsey Stonebridge FBA is Professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is the author of We Are Free to Change the World- Hannah Arendt's Lessons in Love and Disobedience (2024); Placeless People- Writing, Rights, and Refugees (2018); winner of the Modernist Studies Association Book Prize and a Choice Outstanding Academic Title; The Judicial Imagination- Writing After Nuremberg, which won the British Academy Rose Mary Crawshay Prize for English Literature; and the essay collection, Writing and Righting- Literature in the Age of Human Rights. She is a regular media commentator and broadcaster, and lives in London. www.lyndseystonebridge.com