Men in Dark Times

We humanize what is going on in the world and in ourselves only by speaking of it, and in the course of speaking of it we learn to be human.

This was a splendid book to tackle on a holiday. I had read the section on Walter Benjamin before and it was a treat t confront it again. The sections on Rosa Luxemburg and Bertolt Brecht were my favorites, though the piece on the poet Randall Jarrell was unexpectedly moving. Each of these portraits illuminate or fuel Arendt's notion of the public; the limits of this thought become uneasily befogged in practice where one must consider the point Brecht made: it is more important to do good, to make the world a better place than to simply be a good person. The anecdote is related that once Brecht was show more dining with Sidney Hooks and when asked about the Moscow Show Trial Brecht responded that if they were innocent of the charges then of course they should die. Ponder that, will you. show less

Significant individuals' lives who have attempted to shed light on the "dark times" of the twentieth century. In the twenty-first century, reading this book is instructive and serves as a cautionary tale. This reader is constantly inspired by Arendt's exquisite prose.

I picked this up for the essay on Karl Jaspers cited in another book. That one was a heavy lift and I didn’t finish it after getting the reference I needed. Biographical essays on Rosa Luxemburg, Pope John XXIII, Bertolt Brecht, and Randall Jarrell were better.

Fantastic book.