A review by rosekk
Eichmann and the Holocaust by Hannah Arendt

5.0

Having read other bits of Arendt's writing, and plenty else that references her, I thought I was already fairly familiar with the contents of this book. While there were ideas I'd come across elsewhere, there was so much more to read this book for. The parts relating to the banality of evil were fascinating, but I was surprised to find I got much more about of the book than that. Though it never professes to be a history book, it did teach me a fair amount of history that I was either completely unaware of it, or had only dimly considered. It also made me think much more about the law, how international law can/should work, and morality in relation to those things. Similarly there was a lot to consider about both individual psychology, community psychology, and the nature of guilt. This book doesn't contain everything Arendt wrote on the trial (it's extracts rather than everything), so I'd like to read the unabridged version. I could probably have also done with an introduction, just to give some more background, because although I have some passing knowledge on what happened, I felt a bit more detail would have served me well.