HAC Membership Material Benefits

2024 Tote Bag: Tribalism & Cosmopolitanism

Natural Cotton Canvas Tote Bag with zipper and interior pocket, featuring a quote by Elizabeth Young Breuhl in For the Love of the World, "Hannah Arendt's tribe was a little island of cosmopolitanism and pariah consciousness."

Journal XII

Volume XII of the Hannah Arendt Journal delves into the intricate relationship between friendship and politics, offering fresh perspectives on how personal bonds can influence and shape political landscapes. In an era of polarized discourse and distrust, this volume explores whether friendship can counterbalance partisanship, fostering dialogue and understanding across ideological divides. The contributors include a diverse array of scholars, thinkers, writers, and practitioners, such as Leon Botstein, Roger Berkowitz, Niobe Way, Daniel Mendelsohn, Anne Norton, and Schuyler Playford. The journal also features creative contributions by Wyatt Mason and Daniel Mason, as well as in-depth analyses of specific friendships by Marie Luise Knott, Alex Cain, Barbara von Bechtolsheim, and Marion Detjen. Additionally, several essays examine correspondences related to Hannah Arendt by Thomas Wild, Jana Schmidt, Thomas Bartscherer, and Ann Lauterbach. Marisa Franco and Esther Perel discuss the power and broader implications of friendship, while Michael Weinman explores Claudia Baracchi’s work on the future of friendship as an ancient gift. The fiction section includes a poem by Jonathan Asiedu and a short story by Nick Franceschi, both Bard College students. The essays, conversations, and creative pieces in this volume collectively explore the multifaceted dimensions of friendship within political contexts, offering rich and varied perspectives on how personal relationships can influence and reflect broader societal dynamics.

On Civil Disobedience by Roger Berkowitz

Together for the first time, classic essays on how and when to disobey the government from two of the greatest thinkers in our literature. As we grapple with how to respond to emerging threats against democracy, Library of America brings together for the first time two seminal essays about the duties of citizenship and the imperatives of conscience. In “Resistance to Civil Government” (1849), Henry David Thoreau recounts the story of a night he spent in jail for refusing to pay poll taxes, which he believed supported the Mexican American War and the expansion of slavery. His larger aim was to articulate a view of individual conscience as a force in American politics. No writer has made a more persuasive case for obedience to a “higher law.”  In “Civil Disobedience” (1970), Hannah Arendt offers a stern rebuttal to Thoreau. For Arendt, Thoreau stands in willful opposition to the public and collective spirit that defines civil disobedience. Only through positive collective action and the promises we make to each other in a civil society can meaningful change occur. This deluxe paperback features an introduction by Roger Berkowitz, Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College, who reflects on the tradition of civil disobedience and the future of American politics.

Limited edition print by artist David Schorr titled, Hannah Arendt Center: The Centenary Print

At the $1,000 membership level, members will receive a limited edition print of Hannah Arendt by artist David Schorr titled, Hannah Arendt Center: The Centenary Print. The print edition details: 

David Schorr was a very close friend of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Hannah Arendt's student and biographer. In 2012, the center commissioned Schorr to create a print edition based on the cover of Elisabeth Young-Bruehl's Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World. Schorr created 50 limited edition prints on handmade paper, which are signed and numbered by the artist. David Schorr (b. 1947, Chicago, IL – d. 2018, New York, NY) was an American artist whose works span painting, drawing, intaglio printmaking, lithography, and engraving.  An illustrator and calligrapher, Schorr often incorporated text and literary references into his work. (www.davidschorr.com)