Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Hannah Arendt

Only a fool, or a Ph.d, would even attempt to name a short list of essential “Jewish” books (maybe I’m just bitter; it’s been several centuries and I’m still working on my masters thesis). In any case, I’m already in big trouble, because I’m one of those sad cases who has trouble reading anything written before 1955. Especially if it is over 300 pages.

So even though reading Jewish books is essential to my wellbeing, I’ve somehow managed to narrow my own field by approximately 2,950 years. What can I say, except that these books have been essential to me? (Meantime, for info about those approximately 2,950 missing years, go to Zachary Baker’s bibliography a couple years ago of the 1000 best Jewish books; or The Schoken Guide to Jewish Boggs, edited by Barry W. Holtz (1992).

Arendt’s meditation is perhaps the best example we have of a brilliant, self-hating Jew at the top of their game. The Holocaust was much the fault of the Jews, Arendt seemed to be saying, ever so smartly. She has forever been accused of a witless genius, and not just because she was lovers with Martin Heiddeigger, philosopher, Nazi, and official “Fuehrer” of Heidelberg University. The New York Times Book Review
 nailed this essential, but evil, book’s problem with, “If, in recalling the period, one could shut one's eyes to the scenes of brutal massacre and stop one's ears to the screams of horror-stricken women and terrorized children as they saw the tornado of death sweeping toward them, one could almost assume that in some parts of the book the author is being whimsical.”

Neal Karlen is a long-time contributor to The New York Times. He was an Associate Editor at Newsweek and Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone. He has authored many books, including the recently published The Story of Yiddish: How a Mish-Mosh of Languages Saved the Jews (William Morrow, 2008).