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Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics, Civil Disobedience, On Violence, and Thoughts on Politics and Revolution
by
A collection of studies in which Arendt, from the standpoint of a political philosopher, views the crises of the 1960s and early 1970s as challenges to the american form of government.
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Paperback, 240 pages
Published
May 10th 1972
by Harvest Books
(first published March 11th 1970)
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Start your review of Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics, Civil Disobedience, On Violence, and Thoughts on Politics and Revolution
Oct 05, 2016
Elizabeth
marked it as to-read
Seems like a good moment to read about lying in politics.
Reading this book on Kindle, I was drawn to the "popular reader highlights" which were confined exclusively to the essay on Lying in Politics. Amazon informed me that before I opened the book, over 100 people before me had highlighted some of Arendt's statements about how regimes build up authority based on lies, and how lies appeal to people. She is certainly more insightful than most of the takes about Trump which you can get for free on HuffPo or various other free websites, so I can
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Lying in Politics was an interesting read, particularly in relation to Vietnam. Civil Disobedience, the main reason I picked up the book, was *very* thought provoking with regard to the "Occupy" phenomenon.
I found On Violence to be less interesting than the first two essays, but it was saved somewhat by the interview on the essay that followed.
Overall, I'd say that Lying in Politics and Civil Disobedience are worthwhile reads. Maybe skip the rest of the book.
I found On Violence to be less interesting than the first two essays, but it was saved somewhat by the interview on the essay that followed.
Overall, I'd say that Lying in Politics and Civil Disobedience are worthwhile reads. Maybe skip the rest of the book.
Not sure I really understood all of it, but I like her style of writing, with the exception of her tendency to put a lot of words in quotes. Ive never read her before, id like to try another of her books.
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sad and frustrating, and sometimes harsh. not always political theory I agree with but Arendt is undeniably smart. my favorite of these collected essays was the first - Lying in Politics - about the pentagon papers and is incredibly relevant for today's readers. Civil Disobedience was also fantastic and very approachable.
"The crucial point here is not merely that the policy of lying was hardly ever aimed at the enemy...but was destined chiefly, if not exclusively, for domestic consumption, for propaganda at home, and especially for the purpose of deceiving Congress" (p. 14).
"The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life...It is this fragility that makes deception so very easy up to a point, and so tempting" (p. 8).
On the process of 'internal self-deception': ...more
"The historian knows how vulnerable is the whole texture of facts in which we spend our daily life...It is this fragility that makes deception so very easy up to a point, and so tempting" (p. 8).
On the process of 'internal self-deception': ...more
Reading this book shook me. There are parts that are dated, but so much of it is stunningly prophetic to what we are witnessing in the world today. The best bits are the first part of Lying in Politics, and the latter portion of On Violence.
Hannah Arendt was one of the leading political philosophers of the 20th century. On Violence, first published in 1969, as a separate book, is one of the most influential essays on the inverse relation between power and violence.
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Nov 04, 2010
Greg
is currently reading it
She's one of my favorite deep thinkers. This book is dated, having been set in the 1960s, and I think Arendt was fascinated by the politics of the moment and trying to make sense of it. Good, but not Origins of Totalitarianism.
Walkin to the Freedom Land
The Berkeley Times. This month, I am pondering on the origins of the present suffering and strife in the USA mirrored, magnified and distorted in our beloved town, how we might grow or back out of it, and how many centuries it may take, if we humans have the luxury of time.
God shed His grace on thee is only the beginning of our national suffering, since the doctrine of manifest destiny used against Indigenous peoples, religious pagans, women, children, elders and many ...more
The Berkeley Times. This month, I am pondering on the origins of the present suffering and strife in the USA mirrored, magnified and distorted in our beloved town, how we might grow or back out of it, and how many centuries it may take, if we humans have the luxury of time.
God shed His grace on thee is only the beginning of our national suffering, since the doctrine of manifest destiny used against Indigenous peoples, religious pagans, women, children, elders and many ...more
In regards to the three essays and one commentary contained in this volume, "Lying in Politics" is absolutely wonderful and timeless, "Civil Disobedience" is dated but remains engaging and worthwhile, "On Violence" varies wildly throughout its course in terms of the overall quality of its ideas and writing (at its worst dipping into some pretty abhorrent and out of touch racist conceits),* and "Thoughts on Politics and Revolution" is a decent-but-inessential summation presented in a Q&A
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The ways in which I discover new writers is almost as exciting to me as the new writers themselves.
I found Hannah Arendt through the recommendation of an acquaintance in a local writer's group I attend. I'm glad I listened.
This is the first work of Arendt's that I have read and I'm very much impressed and excited. She's a lot like other mid-20th century writers I've discovered and fell in love with (Ellul, Girard, Bonhoeffer, Tillich) because they draw their material from a diverse mixture of ...more
I found Hannah Arendt through the recommendation of an acquaintance in a local writer's group I attend. I'm glad I listened.
This is the first work of Arendt's that I have read and I'm very much impressed and excited. She's a lot like other mid-20th century writers I've discovered and fell in love with (Ellul, Girard, Bonhoeffer, Tillich) because they draw their material from a diverse mixture of ...more
A pretty good intro to Hannah Arendt
I hadn't read anything by Hannah Arendt prior to this, but CRISES OF THE REPUBLIC seemed to be a fairly good intro to her ideas and writing style. For me, the essay on lying in politics was the most accessible and interesting, although the other three were no less stimulating. I found myself in agreement with a lot of it, but I can understand how her approach to the "Negro question" might put off some people. Generally speaking, one might characterize some of ...more
I hadn't read anything by Hannah Arendt prior to this, but CRISES OF THE REPUBLIC seemed to be a fairly good intro to her ideas and writing style. For me, the essay on lying in politics was the most accessible and interesting, although the other three were no less stimulating. I found myself in agreement with a lot of it, but I can understand how her approach to the "Negro question" might put off some people. Generally speaking, one might characterize some of ...more
Arendt was one of the most profound thinkers about politics in the last century. 'Crises of the Republic' shows why. It is a collection of four pieces published between 1969 and 1972. Very much a period piece in several respects, Arendt's focus is on lying in the Pentagon Papers and violence and civil disobedience in the student protests of the era. She draws on the ideas of numerous other political thinkers, from Plato to Locke to Fanon, to put these events in a broader context. Many of her
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Hannah Arendt has interesting thoughts about the nature and the relation of truth and politics. However, in my opinion the two essays in this collection do not go well together. There is a significant overlap between the two essays - naturally because they deal with a similar topic - which to me felt like unnecessary repetition. Moreover, I would have prefered the second essay to be the first and vice versa, because the first essay has a more specific topic (the Pentagon Papers) and the second
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Hannah Arendt ist becoming in if my favorite political thinkers. I love the clarity of her words which are especially vibrant in the last part of this book, the interview with a German journalist. Sure, it is a little old, but so much of the fundamental observations are applicable and important even 40 years later.
The text is crap. Musings of an old housewife after reading the husband's newspaper. Pointless revolt pushed as reason. A touch of marxism.
But I can't get Arendt. Jewish in the worst period to be a Jew. Lover of a nazi. Continental philosopher against the logic. Christian to the end, against her cultural background.
But I can't get Arendt. Jewish in the worst period to be a Jew. Lover of a nazi. Continental philosopher against the logic. Christian to the end, against her cultural background.
Sometimes dull, sometimes interesting, always readable.
To appreciate the books current relevance, it needs to be taken at a conceptual level as it's very much a product of it's time (the early 70s).
To appreciate the books current relevance, it needs to be taken at a conceptual level as it's very much a product of it's time (the early 70s).
The first Arendt I've read. A collection of her works from the early '70s which apply unnervingly well to the present day. "Lying in Politics" and "On Violence" in particular speak to our duplicitous and overwhelming contemporary political environment.
A still relevant collection of essays. The conditions that let Arendt to discuss issues on violence, government lies, civil disobedience are still present.
Very interesting formulation of her distinction between power and violence.
The essays in this collection feel dated, but the fundamental insights still have relevance. Arendt's treatment of violence, of lying in politics, of civil disobedience reminds us that corruption, authoritarian tendencies and opposition to the powerful status quo have always existed in American politics. At the same time, she explains how these tendencies are structurally built into the culture and founding politics of the nation.
Feb 01, 2015
A Brainy Deal
added it
Devastating analysis of the art of political lies. Although covering the Vietnam war era, the author lays out the techniques that were born throughout that era and continue down to the present day. Must read for anyone concerned about truth.
On Violence had problematic misreadings of Fanon and Third World politics.
Aug 03, 2013
Velvetink
marked it as to-read
[Hannah_Arendt]_Crises_of_the_Republic_Lying_in_P(BookFi.org)pdf
It is written decades ago, but doesn't feel too dated, because much of what she said appears to be as relevant today as in the 70s.
Sep 23, 2010
Craig Bolton
added it
Crises of the Republic: Lying in Politics; Civil Disobedience; On Violence; Thoughts on Politics and Revolution by Hannah Arendt (1972)
wish I could give 4.5 stars, but I'll round up...read it!
Particularly enlightening on the subject of civil disobedience.
This collection of essays dates from the 1970s. I was impressed by her assessment of the Pentagon Papers... The only secret was the fact that the whole was was based on lies and deception... Ha!
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Hannah Arendt (1906 1975) was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century. Born into a German-Jewish family, she was forced to leave Germany in 1933 and lived in Paris for the next eight years, working for a number of Jewish refugee organisations. In 1941 she immigrated to the United States and soon became part of a lively intellectual circle in New York. She held
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“... Half of politics is "image-making", the other half is the art of making people believe the image”
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“Just as terror, even in its pre-total, merely tyrannical form ruins all relationships between men, so the self-compulsion of ideological thinking ruins all relationships with reality. The preparation has succeeded when people have lost contact with their fellow men as well as the reality around them; for together with these contacts, men lose the capacity of both experience and thought. The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
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