Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism captured the essence of total domination as seen in Germany and the Soviet Union during WWII. This lecture is a good-faith attempt to explain the book and Arendt's 'origins' in full.
★Support on Patreon: patreon.com/williamcfox
Sourcing for this episode can be found here: williamcfox.substack.com/p/lecture-sourcing-origins-of-totalitarianism
(Pasting it all here would exceed description character count)
(There is also a topical index at this link, along with a page of Latin/German/French terms found in the book)
00:00 Intro
1:00 French Revolution & Nation-States
01:31:56 Arendt Bio & Book Concept
01:52:36 Generic Totalitarianism
02:24:10 Antisemitism Intro
02:58:28 Tocqueville Trap
03:31:11 Social Antisemitism
03:51:21 Disraeli
04:24:17 Panama, Dreyfus, Mob
05:28:48 Imperialism Intro, Emancipation of Bourgeoisie
06:12:49 Hobbes and power/expansion
07:00:17 Interlude Word Cloud
07:10:24 Boers and Bureaucracy
08:06:34 Interlude: Recapping Imperialism
08:14:05 Stateless People
09:17:14 Lonely Masses
10:05:16 Terror
10:23:08 Concluding Remarks
At the start of my research, I watched every replay of two virtual reading groups from the Hannah Arendt Center on YouTube, led by Professor Roger Berkowitz:
2023 (15 episodes) youtube.com/watch?v=To_s-QwQcwc&list=PLYW5qHLZjOWFIzvItOsA-pKu4fsa3tZih
2019 (18 episodes) youtube.com/watch?v=4XvQwI89E2U&list=PLYW5qHLZjOWFXtyProdKLL4hJZvVommr-
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images.
Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism captured the essence of total domination as seen in Germany and the Soviet Union during WWII. This lecture is a good-faith attempt to explain the book and Arendt's 'origins' in full.
★Support on Patreon: patreon.com/williamcfox
Sourcing for this episode can be found here: williamcfox.substack.com/p/lecture-sourcing-origins-of-totalitarianism
(Pasting it all here would exceed description character count)
(There is also a topical index at this link, along with a page of Latin/German/French terms found in the book)
00:00 Intro
1:00 French Revolution & Nation-States
01:31:56 Arendt Bio & Book Concept
01:52:36 Generic Totalitarianism
02:24:10 Antisemitism Intro
02:58:28 Tocqueville Trap
03:31:11 Social Antisemitism
03:51:21 Disraeli
04:24:17 Panama, Dreyfus, Mob
05:28:48 Imperialism Intro, Emancipation of Bourgeoisie
06:12:49 Hobbes and power/expansion
07:00:17 Interlude Word Cloud
07:10:24 Boers and Bureaucracy
08:06:34 Interlude: Recapping Imperialism
08:14:05 Stateless People
09:17:14 Lonely Masses
10:05:16 Terror
10:23:08 Concluding Remarks
At the start of my research, I watched every replay of two virtual reading groups from the Hannah Arendt Center on YouTube, led by Professor Roger Berkowitz:
2023 (15 episodes) youtube.com/watch?v=To_s-QwQcwc&list=PLYW5qHLZjOWFIzvItOsA-pKu4fsa3tZih
2019 (18 episodes) youtube.com/watch?v=4XvQwI89E2U&list=PLYW5qHLZjOWFXtyProdKLL4hJZvVommr-
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images.
