The Essence of Totalitarianism

This book ties together a number of loose ends brought out by various studies of the modern syndrome of totalitarianism. There have been a number of important, in- depth contributions to the study by such luminaries as Talmon, Brezinski, and Arendt. However, this field still lacks a focus as to the unusual nature of this modern phenomenon. The authors purport to bring various observations of the world of totalitarianism into a pattern which demonstrates a commonality, a development not generally seen. Actually, the study of totalitarianism as such is new to the academic field. Until just recently most writers were content to place totalitarianism in the same category as the studies of authoritarianism and pre-World War I dictatorships. Only slowly was it realized by a very few that what was being dealt with in Nazism and modern Communism was something to a great extent unique and required a different focus of observation and understanding. This book demonstrates that the content of much of what has already been written by the few who have seen the extraordinary in the modern totalitarian sequence points to a common foundation, syndrome, and echology.