"Anyone who has had occasion to reflect on history and politics," Hannah Arendt observes, "cannot fail to be aware of the enormous role that violence has always played in human affairs." In this short, very dense essay, Arendt gives reasons for her assertion by tracing the historical events of the 1960s against the background of the entire 20th century. In a lucid, penetrating (and still highly topical) radiography of the phenomenon, which nevertheless does not lack the tone and vibration of genuine political passion, the author touches on such themes as the relationship between violence, power, force and authority, the "rationality" of violence, its causes, its origins, and the differences between collective and individual violence.