Inspired by Hannah Arendt's analysis of crisis-ridden modernity, Wolfgang Heuer addresses exemplary aspects of depoliticization and the loss of politics - and thus of freedom - in 20 essays. He argues that politics can recover, if it is based on personal responsibility in the political realm, in civil society, and even under dictatorial conditions; if the pictorial and emotional conditions of successful judgement are understood; if human plurality is given its specific political organisational form; and, finally, if sustainability is understood as a principle of action, not only towards nature but also towards politics and society.