Two of the most iconic thinkers of the twentieth century, Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) and Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997) fundamentally disagreed on central issues in politics, history and philosophy. In spite of their overlapping lives and experiences as Jewish émigré intellectuals, Berlin disliked Arendt intensely, saying that she represented “everything that I detest most,” while Arendt met Berlin’s hostility with indifference and suspicion. Written in a lively style, and filled with drama, tragedy and passion, Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin tells, for the first time, the full story of the fraught relationship between these towering figures, and shows how their profoundly different views continue to offer important lessons for political thought today.
Drawing on a wealth of new archival material, Kei Hiruta traces the Arendt–Berlin conflict, from their first meeting in wartime New York through their widening intellectual chasm during the 1950s, the controversy over Arendt’s 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem, their final missed opportunity to engage with each other at a 1967 conference and Berlin’s continuing animosity toward Arendt after her death. Hiruta blends political philosophy and intellectual history to examine key issues that simultaneously connected and divided Arendt and Berlin, including the nature of totalitarianism, evil and the Holocaust, human agency and moral responsibility, Zionism, American democracy, British imperialism and the Hungarian Revolution. But, most of all, Arendt and Berlin disagreed over a question that goes to the heart of the human condition: what does it mean to be free?
Awards and Recognition
- One of Bloomberg’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2021
- Shortlisted for the Gladstone Book Prize, Royal Historical Society
- Shortlisted for the ECPR Political Theory Prize, European Consortium for Political Research
"[A] path-breaking study. . . . The hitherto unexplored relationship between these two giants is fascinating not just for its simmering acrimony but because, as a pair, they are as much alike as they are antipodes."—Norman Lebrecht, Wall Street Journal
"An impeccably researched work, providing lucid explanation of the political thought of both Arendt and Berlin, and successfully brings the arguments of both (and their flaws) into sharp relief."—Caroline Ashcroft, Perspectives on Politics
"The tone of the book is thoughtful and equable; the writing is admirably clear; and Hiruta certainly provides a fair and detailed chronology of the Arendt/Berlin encounters and of Berlin’s various expressions of hostility."—Jeremy Waldron, Society
"Contextualized, dialogical, and even-handed."—Richard Shorten, The Review of Politics
"Historically careful and theoretically rich."—Shmuel Lederman, German Studies Review
"[An] even-handed study. . . .The book sheds a great deal of light on the protagonists and on essential historical and political issues so significant for our time."—Paradigm Explorer
"Richly rewarding, highly readable and [an] important intervention in contemporary political philosophy."—Laurie Naranch, Journal of Social and Political Philosophy
“Kei Hiruta has written a balanced and incisive portrait of two seminal thinkers—both Jewish, both fierce opponents of totalitarianism—who ought to have admired each other, but who were divided by an enmity that lays bare fault lines in twentieth-century thought, between German and Anglo-American philosophy and between the progressive and liberal traditions.”—Michael Ignatieff, president of Central European University
“Kei Hiruta has achieved something very special in this superb book. Combining intellectual history and political theory to reconstitute the encounter of Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin, he has situated the abstract and general claims about humanity, freedom and totalitarianism that his protagonists made in the painful story of their own failed interaction. Brilliantly composed and documented, the results are a gift across fields of inquiry.”—Samuel Moyn, Yale University
“Balanced and judicious, this is the first book devoted to unearthing the details of the encounter between Arendt and Berlin, and it clarifies the historical mystery surrounding Berlin’s intense dislike of Arendt. It successfully navigates the treacherous shoals of the Eichmann controversy and explores Berlin's and Arendt’s views of imperialism and their adopted homelands.”—Seyla Benhabib, Yale University
“This important and elegantly written book centers on the personal and theoretical conflict between Arendt and Berlin, blending together historical context and problems in modern political theory. In its style and language, it is accessible to anyone with an interest in Arendt, Berlin or the intellectual setting of the Cold War.”—Christian J. Emden, Rice University
“Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin is a brilliant gem of a book that illuminates the prickly relationship between two icons of modern political thought. With the precision of a top-notch surgeon and the eloquence of a fine novelist, Kei Hiruta dissects the clashing ways these two Jews, émigrés and champions of freedom responded to their cataclysmic age. He also delicately probes the venom (Berlin) and aloof disregard (Arendt) with which they responded to each other. A riveting work that uses the tools of intellectual history and political theory to magnificent effect.”—Joan Cocks, Mount Holyoke College
