The Origins of Totalitarianism, Explained.

Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism captured the essence of total domination as seen in Germany and the Soviet Union during WWII. This lecture is a good-faith attempt to explain the book and Arendt's 'origins' in full. Sourcing for this episode can be found here: (There is also a topical index at this link, along with a page of Latin/German/French terms found in the book) 00:00 Intro 1:00 French Revolution & Nation-States 01:31:56 Arendt Bio & Book Concept 01:52:36 Generic Totalitarianism 02:24:10 Antisemitism Intro 02:58:28 Tocqueville Trap 03:31:11 Social Antisemitism 03:51:21 Disraeli 04:24:17 Panama, Dreyfus, Mob 05:28:48 Imperialism Intro, Emancipation of Bourgeoisie 06:12:49 Hobbes and power/expansion 07:00:17 Interlude Word Cloud 07:10:24 Boers and Bureaucracy 08:06:34 Interlude: Recapping Imperialism 08:14:05 Stateless People 09:17:14 Lonely Masses 10:05:16 Terror 10:23:08 Concluding Remarks At the start of my research, I watched every replay of two virtual reading groups from the Hannah Arendt Center on YouTube, led by Professor Roger Berkowitz:2023 (15 episodes) 2019 (18 episodes) Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images. To hear more, visit