A new book explains the intellectual legacy of four women
“The Visionaries” takes on the ideas of Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Ayn Rand and Simone Weil
In February 1933 the Reichstag, home of Germany’s parliament, caught fire. The country’s new chancellor, Adolf Hitler, claimed arson and used it as an excuse to revoke civil liberties. For 26-year-old Hannah Arendt, toiling in an archive to collect “everyday anti-Semitic expressions”, Hitler’s reaction demonstrated the ruthlessness of totalitarianism. Soon she was interrogated by the secret police—an experience that catalysed a long career as a scholarly observer of persecution and mob rule.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Women who shaped the world”
Culture August 26th 2023
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