A dense and sometimes difficult read. Arendt's arguments are genuinely interesting, but the first half at least is often so theoretical, and so general, that I had to keep putting the book down and coming back later to stop it all from blurring together. A few more concrete examples might have leavened the prose there, especially as that prose livens up tremendously once it gets to Disraeli and then the Dreyfus Affair. Because both these topics relied on strong personalities and action and primary sources - quotes and references and so forth - they were easier to follow. It doesn't say much for my reading ability, I suppose, that a sense of story improves it, but nonetheless that's the case and Arendt's portrayal of the Dreyfus Affair in particular was lively and illuminating.