Hannah Arendt (/ˈɛərənt, ˈɑːr-/,^[10][11] US also /əˈrɛnt/,^[12] German: [ˌhana ˈaːʁənt] ^ⓘ;^[13] born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was an American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.^[14][15][16]

Her works cover a broad range of topics, but she is best known for those dealing with the nature of power and evil, as well as politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism. She is also remembered for the controversy surrounding the trial of Adolf Eichmann, her attempt to explain how ordinary people become actors in totalitarian systems, which was considered by some an apologia, and for the phrase "the banality of evil." She is commemorated by institutions and journals devoted to her thinking, the Hannah Arendt Prize for political thinking, and on stamps, street names and schools, amongst other things.