First published 1963
Hannah Arendt covers the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. The Nazi official who organized deportations of Jews during World War II sits in a glass booth as prosecutors present their case. Arendt watches the proceedings and interviews participants. She examines how an ordinary bureaucrat became complicit in genocide. Her analysis challenges common assumptions about evil and responsibility. The book originated as articles for The New Yorker in 1963. This edition adds material discovered after the trial ended. Arendt also responds to critics who attacked her original account. The work combines courtroom journalism with philosophical reflection on one of the century's most disturbing legal proceedings.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Jerusalem
Period: 1961
298 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics
Content warnings: violence