THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM

A tri-partite study of anti-semitism (not merely the hatred of the Jews), imperialism (not merely conquest) and totalitarianism (not merely dictatorship) which examines political, social and historical forces with an impressive scholarship. Dr. Arendt traces the decline of European Jewry and their persecution as a powerless group under Hitler back to the preparatory causes and the rise of anti-semitism, follows their ascendant and falling social prestige through the 19th century. She analyzes imperialism, and its central idea-expansion; the use of race-thinking as a ruling device on the dark continents; the decline of the nation-state and the increase of the minorities after 1918. And under totalitarianism, where imperialism and anti-semitism reached its fullest expression, she shows the rise of the masses and the breakdown of protective class walls, the use of propaganda for the furtherance of power, the destruction of morality and individuality... A highly serious and commanding study, written not only knowledgeably but eloquently.