Centring on the theme of female genius, Hannah Arendt emphasizes three features of the philosopher’s work. First, by exploring Arendt’s critique of Saint Augustine and her biographical essay on Rahel Varnhagen, Kristeva accentuates Arendt’s commitment to recounting lives and to narration. Second, Kristeva reflects on Arendt’s perspective on Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the banality of evil . Finally, the biography brings together Arendt’s intellectual itinerary, placing her enthusiasm for observing both social phenomena and political events in the context of her personal life. Drawing on fragments of Arendt’s most intimate correspondence with her longtime lover Martin Heidegger and her husband Heinrich Blucher, excerpts from her mother’s Unser Kind (a diary tracking Hannah’s formative years), and passages from Arendt’s philosophical writings, Kristeva weaves a luminous story. With a thorough thematic index and bibliographical references, Hannah Arendt assists in the understanding of an essential thinker.