Amor Mundi

The Virtual Reading Group

A monthly reading group focused on the written works of Hannah Arendt, led by Roger Berkowitz, Director of the Hannah Arendt Center.

Who is a Whistleblower?
 

By Roger Berkowitz
Daniel Ellsberg was the quintessential whistleblower. He was an expert insider who had evidence of government misconduct. After attempts to expose the misconduct to his superiors, he offered it to journalists. Ellsberg’s whistleblowing led to the publication of “The Pentagon Papers,” which became the raw material for one of Hannah Arendt’s prescient essays “Lying in Politics.”

The New Loyalty Oaths

By Roger Berkowitz
When I was a graduate student teaching at UC Berkeley I was asked to sign a statement that I would report people with suspicious immigration backgrounds. When I applied for professorships at certain traditionally religious schools, I was asked to swear that I would not promote abortion in my classes.

Prison Abolition

By Samantha Hill
The New York Times Magazine featured an extensive profile of Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s campaign for prison abolition. The article breaks down the provocative term “abolition” to look at the language and arguments that surround prison culture in the United States, where more than 2 million people are incarcerated.

University in Exile

By Roger Berkowitz
Samantha Hill reviews a new book by Judith Friedlander about the history of the New School for Social Research and the “University in Exile” that saved so many European intellectuals, including Hannah Arendt. (free registration required)

Thinking Under Siege: Masha Gessen

A presentation and discussion from the Hannah Arendt Center's 10th Annual Fall Conference, Crises of Democracy: Thinking in Dark Times

Democratic Education and the Open Inquiry Imperative

By Elizabeth Beaumont
Fromn volume III of HA: The Jounral of the Hannah Arendt Center.

The Conservative Coates

By Roger Berkowitz
Wil S. Hylton interviews Paul Coates. Coates was a Black Panther Party leader in Baltimore in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He founded a prison literacy program, owned of a bookstore devoted to community service, and established the publishing company Black Classic Press to disseminate the work of...

Tough Talk: They Mistook a Backlash for a Movement: Black Men and the Doom of Western Civilization

This talk was presented as a part of The Hannah Arendt Center's Tough Talk Lecture Series, organized by Bard student Mark Williams, Jr.. Introductions by Roger Berkowitz, Director and Founder of the Hannah Arendt Center, and Mark Williams, Jr.. Discussion moderated by Bard alum, Dana Miranda '14.