She describes in academic terms much of what Orwell illustrated in 1984. This incomprehension also makes it harder for the rest of the world to grasp the reality of the Radical Evil adopted in pursuit of totalitarian ideology. She also explains how the focus of a totalitarian regime on ideology isolates it from reality and makes it so much harder for the non-totalitarian world to understand or deal with regimes focused on goals other than self or national interest. She describes the ability of Stalin and Hitler to destroy the connections of individuals with others in society and eventually self-identity. Arendt is at her best evaluating the nature of totalitarian regimes.

She acknowledges the irony of the US as a land of liberty founded on slavery, but she does not consider the totalitarian nature of American slavery. In addition, her discussion of racism suffers from ignoring New World slavery. The pattern of anti-Semitism and imperialism leading to totalitarianism seems to fit the German model better than the Russian, however. There are some wonderful insights here, such as the change in anti-Semitism from anti-Judaism to anti-Jewishness and the change in the concept of nation from one of geography to one of ethnicity or race. She describes totalitarianism arising out of anti-Semitism and global imperialism. Her thesis is that their totalitarian regimes were qualitatively different from other despotisms, both inwardly and outwardly, because their aim was not self or national aggrandizement, but pursuit of a blinding ideology, leading ultimately to total destruction. Arendt uses Marxist economics, combined with a Hobbesian outlook, to evaluate the rise of Hitler and Stalin.

The origins of totalitarism