Hannah Arendt is increasingly recognised as one of the most important political thinkers of the twentieth century. She gained fame for her historical study of totalitarianism, notoriety for her reportage of Adolf Eichman's trial, and philosophical recognition for her explorations of (political) action and her critique of the Western tradition of political thought from Plato to Marx. As such, she is likely to be the first woman to join the canon of the great philosophers.

Arendt's work has attracted a huge volume of scholarship in the USA, as well as in Germany, France and the UK, where further scholarly work is emerging at an increasing pace. Given that there was vigorous debate of her work during her lifetime, that there have since been several waves of evaluation and re-evaluation, and that a new generation of scholars is now coming to her work, a systematic collection of the critical assessments of her thought is extremely timely.

This four-volume set brings together the most important assessments of Arendt's contributions to political science, political theory and philosophy. Thorough and incisive, the collection also includes an editor's introduction that sets out the main currents of Hannah Arendt's work and analyses the responses it has attracted - thus providing both student and scholar with an invaluable research resource.