THE HUMAN CONDITION

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original quarter black cloth over blue paper covered boards with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. A better than very good copy, the binding square and firm, the bottom corner of the spine with small remnants of paper from the reverse of the dustwrapper. The contents, with a contemporary previous owner's inscription to the front pastedown and mild toning to the closed text block edge, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the rubbed and nicked dustwrapper that has a few small chips at the spine tips and a surface scuff to the lower right of the rear panel. Not price-clipped ($4.75 to the upper front flap) and free from the habitual fading of the spine. An attractive example.

A classic in political and social theory, a work that has proved both timeless and perpetually timely. In this 1958 study of the state of modern humanity, Hannah Arendt considers humankind from the perspective of the actions of which it is capable. The problems she identifies - diminishing human agency and political freedom, the paradox that as human powers increase through technological and humanistic inquiry, we are less equipped to control the consequences of our actions - is more relevant today than ever.