Historically famous critics

Hannah Arendt

1906-1975 · German-American · 20th century

German-American theorist who explained totalitarianism and the banality of evil

A German-born Jewish emigre who fled the Nazis, Arendt became one of the century’s foremost analysts of how totalitarian movements shattered traditional politics and dissolved the individual. Her report on the Eichmann trial introduced the banality of evil, the disturbing claim that catastrophic crimes can spring from thoughtlessness rather than monstrous intent. She belongs in a hall of fame of criticism because she gave later generations the vocabulary to understand mass atrocity, obedience, and the fragility of the public realm.