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In this important new book, Richard Polt takes a fresh approach to Heidegger´s thought during his most politicized period, and works toward a philosophical appropriation of his most valuable ideas. Polt shows how central themes of the 1930s-such as inception, emergency, and the question "Who are we?"-grow from seeds planted in Being and Time and are woven into Heidegger´s political thought. Working with recently published texts, including Heidegger´s Black Notebooks, Polt traces the thinker´s engagement and disengagement from the Nazi movement. He critiques Heidegger for his failure to understand the political realm, but also draws on his ideas to propose a "traumatic ontology" that understands individual and collective existence as identities that are always in question, and always remain exposed to disruptive events. Time and Trauma is a bold attempt to gain philosophical insight from the most problematic and controversial phase of Heidegger´s thought.

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