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We Are Free to Change the World

Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience

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We Are Free to Change the World

By: Lyndsey Stonebridge
Narrated by: Cosima Shaw
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Brought to you by Penguin.

A bold exploration of the life and work of one of the world’s most influential – and controversial – thinkers, which brings Arendt’s ideas into urgent dialogue with our troubled present.

Hannah Arendt wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all about freedom. In place of the forces of darkness and tyranny, she pitched a politics of plurality, spontaneity and defiance. Loving the world, Arendt taught, meant finding the courage to protect it.

Written with passion and authority, We Are Free to Change the World calls on each of us to think our way, as Arendt did – unflinchingly, lovingly, and defiantly – through our own unpredictable times.

‘A rare gem’ SHAMI CHAKRABARTI

'An absorbing new biography... Admirable' ECONOMIST

'Invigorating and insightful' FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Exhilarating, brilliant and utterly original’ PHILIPPE SANDS

©2024 Lyndsey Stonebridge (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Philosophers Political Science Politics & Government Professionals & Academics Socialism
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Critic reviews

An exhilarating, brilliant and utterly original read; an iconic 20th century figure brought to life in all her facets, splendours and complexities (Philippe Sands, author of East West Street)
Compelling and original
Invigorating and insightful… An exhilarating and thoroughly humanising portrait of one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century… With impressive clarity and infectious passion, she follows the currents of Arendt’s thought to a rousing conclusion
Erudite and passionate... A superb read (Maria Popova)
From Arendt’s life and work Stonebridge fashions a map for navigating our present-day struggles and concerns
An absorbing new biography… Stonebridge does an admirable job… She imagines her way into Arendt’s life, in places literally retracing her subject’s footsteps, sensing the climate and smelling the (typically smoke-filled) air in an effort of understanding
In this extraordinary book, Lyndsey Stonebridge details the life and thought of Hannah Arendt in ways that speak to our troublesome times. We get a sense of the expansiveness of Arendt’s thought - her vulnerabilities and her complexity - with stories and intimate details that reveal Stonebridge’s love of her. Beautifully written, We Are Free to Change the World is biography at its best (Eddie Glaude, author of Begin Again)
Expertly analysed and beautifully written, Stonebridge on Arendt is a rare gem, combining complex history and stark contemporary resonance with sparks of hope that we really are free to change the world (Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, author of On Liberty)
Both a warmly engaging intellectual biography and a tract for the times, this is a needful reminder of what political thinking looks like when it is humane, literate and radical all at once (Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury)
A passionate, original defence of the politics of thinking, and especially of women thinking in public, We Are Free to Change the World is witty, moving and inspiring, at once fiercely angry and a work of deep moral wisdom (Sarah Churchwell, author of Behold, America)
All stars
Most relevant
Once or twice a little patronising of Arendt, in the modern way. Otherwise a robust account of a great life well led. I would loved to have heard a more studied analysis of Arendt’s relationship with Simone de Beauvoir, and her refusal to write an introduction to The Second Sex.

Robust and enlightening

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Full of twists, turns and beauty, an instant classic and an act of defiance. Nevertheless, she persisted.

Why thinking matters

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