On Revolution (Penguin Classics)

Essential reading for students of history and political theory regardless of your beliefs and preferences. Amazon's printings of the Penguin classics series are a little underwhelming. The thick, glossy cover of older editions is replaced with a smoother matte cover and the pages aren't as thick, but there were no issues with the print itself.

Really well written, short and summarized, but taking on the main ideas and philosophy driving the revolutions starting with the American one.A must read for anyone trying to understand the current "revolts".

Degree completed

Excellent book with a clear explanation of the origins of revolutionary movements, and its causes; it is a necessary book to understand and analys current so csll revolutionary movements as the Arab spring; Venezuela, etc.

The formatting and publishing quality is simply sub-par. In particular the line-spacing and font size gives you headache. The publisher should really do something about it (e.g., splitting into two volumes).

Terrific read

One of the best books on politics of the twentieth century, and a rhetorical masterpiece. Required reading for those who want to know the true natures of power and freedom.

Subtle as everything sh e writes but, unfortunately. subsequent history has proven her wrong

Hannah Arendt est un des esprits du XX-ième siècle en matière de philosophie politique et d'histoire politiue analytique. Dans ce livre, elle se bat avec un sujet piégeux, plein de contradictions et de débats stériles. Les trois premiers chapitres s'attaquent à la question des objectifs poursuivis et leur liens avec les chances de succès. Elle navigue difficilement entre les rochers et les bancs de sable, abordant courageusement les diverses positions avancées par les philosophes, les historiens, et le révolutionnaires depuis la nuit des temps. Petit à petit, on voit le livre se focaliser sur la comparaison de la révolution française de 1789 et la révolution américaine qui a mené à l'indépendance. Tout ceci ne fait en réalité que préparer le grand feu d'artifice digne des plus beaux qu'a produit Hannah Arendt dans son œuvre immense. Les chapitres 5 et 6 sont essentiels à lire pour qui veux comprendre enfin comment on peut penser les révolutions de manière éclairante. Elle montre le "clash des civilisations" qui oppose la révolution américaine menée par des gens de culture classique latine au désastre de la révolution française menée par des gens de culture grecque et chrétienne. Un argument sublime, sans exagération.

La antología de Penguin Books cubre una faceta y periodo intelectual de Arendt que nos era inaccesible. Ahora ha sido cubierto por la excelente edición publicada. Aborda, no las revoluciones del siglo XVIII al XX, sino las revoluciones democráticas de posguerra (segunda), incluidas Hungría y Polonia. Pero no es solo el asunto de la caída del Muro de Berlín. En realidad, da pie para abordar las rebeliones actuales, en que se perciben cambios de ideología política de los participantes, donde ya no son ajenos la Primavera Arabe o la resistencia pacífica en Palestina.

an interesting analysis of the notion of revolution: here Arendt compares the 18th century revolutions in France and the United States, with a smattering of what happened in Russia later. Her premise looks at the causes and the outcomes in detail. I learnt a lot

Have you ever wonder why a revolution breaks out in a country? Why all of sudden people revolt against their system? Why all of sudden people are demanding change? A change within bottom - up approach. It is about justice, and economic justice is a huge factor for change. There is another dimension of change. On page 189 she writes " The men of the revolution prided themselves on their enlightenment, on their intellectual freedom from tradition, ... still untainted by the sentiment."The above statement is fate of all revolution which has taking place in history of humankind.

Great work and the books is really worth buying. I like Hannah Arendt a lot.