More urgent than ever: as we grapple with how to respond to emerging threats against democracy, Library of America brings together two seminal essays about the duties of citizenship and the imperatives of conscience Together for the first time, classic essays on how and when to disobey the government from two of the greatest thinkers in our literature. In “Resistance to Civil Government” (1849), Henry David Thoreau recounts the story of a night he spent in jail for refusing to pay poll taxes, which he believed supported the Mexican American War and the expansion of slavery. His larger aim was to articulate a view of individual conscience as a force in American politics. No writer has made a more persuasive case for obedience to a “higher law.” In “Civil Disobedience” (1970), Hannah Arendt offers a stern rebuttal to Thoreau. For Arendt, Thoreau stands in willful opposition to the public and collective spirit that defines civil disobedience. Only through positive collective action and the promises we make to each other in a civil society can meaningful change occur. This deluxe paperback features an introduction by Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College, who reflects on the tradition of civil disobedience and the future of American politics.
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) was a German-American political theorist and philosopher known for her groundbreaking works on totalitarianism, authority, and the nature of power. Her most notable works include "The Origins of Totalitarianism" and "The Human Condition." Arendt's writing style is characterized by its clear and precise language, as well as its deep philosophical insights. She is considered one of the most influential political thinkers of the 20th century, and her works continue to be studied and debated in academic circles. Arendt's most famous work, "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil," explores the nature of evil and responsibility in the context of the Holocaust. Her contributions to literature have had a lasting impact on the fields of political theory, philosophy, and ethics.
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