The Origins of Totalitarianism

First published in 1951, this study argues that twentieth-century totalitarian rule grew from earlier European antisemitism and overseas imperialism. Arendt traces the Dreyfus Affair, the rise of the pan-movements, and the breakdown of the nation-state into statelessness and superfluous people. A later part analyzes the Nazi and Stalinist systems: ideology, the party, the secret police, and the camps as laboratories of domination. Propaganda and terror appear as tools of that rule. The book is a political and historical argument, not a narrative biography of any one dictator.

Quarter-bound in cloth with textured paper covers printed with a red and black design by Jamie Keenan. Die-cut slipcase printed on all sides with a red, black and grey pattern.