"The Profundity of Evil"

 The New Criterion: Douglas Murray dissects the "banality of evil" argument that Hannah Arendt made in Eichmann in Jerusalem. An excerpt:

Yet scholarship since Arendt’s book has not just countered her interpretation but should in fact have buried it. In 2011, the historian and philosopher Bettina Stangneth brought out a book in Germany titled Eichmann vor Jerusalem (the English edition, Eichmann Before Jerusalem, came out in 2014). It is a devastating work, most of all for the reputation of Hannah Arendt. For it shows beyond any doubt how, for the few days she attended the trial, Arendt was actually fooled by Eichmann. He played her. For Eichmann—
contra Arendt’s claim—not only knew what he was doing, but was even deeply, sincerely proud of it.