About the Author

HANNAH ARENDT (1906-1975) is considered one of the most important and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. A political theorist and phi-losopher, she is also the author of Crises of the Republic, On Violence, The Life of the Mind, and Men in Dark Times. The Origins of Totalitarianism was first published in 1951.

ANNE APPLEBAUM is a staff writer for The Atlantic and a Pulitzer-prize winning historian. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the Agora Institute. Most recently, she is the author of Twilight of Democracy.

MARY MCCARTHY (1912-1989) was an award-winning short-story writer, bestselling novelist, essayist, and critic. She was the author of The Stones of Florence and Birds of America, among other books.