Hannah Arendt and Her Critics.

When Hannah Arendt’s articles on the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem began appearing in the New Yorker in the spring of 1962, they created an immediate sensation which stirred up certain Zionist and intellectual circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Later, when Viking brought out the book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, it set off a chain-reaction of abuse which has not died down to this day.

Since it is not often given to a book to arouse so many passions—and so prolonged a discussion—it will be necessary briefly to summarize Miss Arendt’s book and to restate her central premise which is, more or less, contained in the subtitle, A Report on the Banality of Evil.

When Hannah Arendt’s articles on the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem began appearing in the New Yorker in the spring of 1962, they created an immediate sensation which stirred up certain Zionist and intellectual circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Later, when Viking brought out the book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, it set off a chain-reaction of abuse which has not died down to this day.

Since it is not often given to a book to arouse so many passions—and so prolonged a discussion—it will be necessary briefly to summarize Miss Arendt’s book and to restate her central premise which is, more or less, contained in the subtitle, A Report on the Banality of Evil.