The volume brings together, mostly for the first time in German, previously little-explored writings by Simone Weil from the 1930s and early 1940s – on the eve of the Second World War, against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Popular Front, and the Spanish Civil War, and finally during wartime in occupied France and in her activities for the Resistance. In her analyses, Simone Weil dissects the mechanisms of power, the forms of violence, and the seductive power of ideology, surprising readers with an interpretation of the Iliad that recognizes the Trojan War as an archetype of modern warfare and collective delusion. With ruthless clarity, the essays not only depict the prescient scenario of impending terror but also portray a vigilant eyewitness and controversial thinker who dedicates her life to political struggle and pacifism.