About violence

In On Violence, Arendt analyzes the nature and causes of violence in the second half of the 20th century. We live amid a global escalation of destruction and war. How can we understand this moment? From a historical perspective, Arendt reexamines the relationship between war and politics, violence and power. She questions the nature of violent behavior, shows the causes of its many manifestations, and ultimately disagrees with Mao Zedong's maxim "power originates from the barrel of a gun," proposing instead that "power and violence are opposites; where one reigns supreme, the other is absent." For Celso Lafer, who wrote the foreword, "Arendt offered in this small, great book a timely and vigorous critique of the apology for violence."