Product Description

As the historian Eric Hobsbawm says, "We are now in a position to rethink much of our past history, including that of the 20th century, as well as our past ideas about what to expect of the world's future." With this in mind, Hobsbawm has written a history based on his wide personal experience - he was born in the year of the Russian revolution and was in Berlin when Hitler was appointed Chancellor. The book falls into three main chronological divisions: "The Age of Catastrophe 1914-1950", an era of wars, crises, revolutions, fascism and, in general, cataclysm; "The Great Leap Forward 1950-1973", a period which has seen the most rapid and spectacular transformation in world history; and "The Age of Crisis 1973-1991", a period in which both communism and old certainties collapsed. The book is global in scope, including in its ambit the geopolitical shifts in wealth, power and cultural influences and the rise and fortunes of the non-European North American world. Written from the point of view of someone who believes in reason and science and in the potential improvement of the human situation, this book aims to reshape our view of the 20th century and concludes with the author's speculations and predictions of developments in the 21st century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #311658 in Books
• Published on: 1994-10-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 640 pages

Customer Reviews

An incredible panorama of the 20th Century.
The depth and breadth of the author's knowledge and research make this an awesome, if at times heavy, book.

For me, its greatest asset is the way that this book takes familiar elements and weaves them into a coherent whole. The individual portraits presented in this book are detailed in themselves, but when they are portrayed as a single panorama of the twentieth century it is incredible to behold.

This detail is also the book's downside. In those sections where I had too little existing knowledge to build upon I found the prose too dense and anecdotes distracting - but that may say more for my history than the author's prose.

If you are looking for an superficial way to put the events of the twentieth century in context, then this book is not for you. But if what you seek is a way of building and interlinking your existing knowledge of the twentieth century then you will certainly not be disappointed by this amazing book.

A well argued case
The research which has gone into this book is amazing. The author has lived through almost all of the age he discusses and uses frequent personal anecdotes both to illustrate and provide reason for his views. The book argues a strong case, the central thesis being that the events of the twentieth century are without precedent in their scope and speed, and that their momentum cannot last for the sake of humanity. Although Hobsbawn's political and academic bias is obvious; the long narratives on the Soviet Union and frequent examples using Latin American countries being cases in point, his arguement is both compelling and well researched. An essential read both for those who wish to understand the past, and the increasing numbers, who, given recent events would like an insight into the choices which face us in the future.

A must read ...
I recommend this book to everyone who wishes to understand (or at least begin to do so) the 20th century... In my opinion, that is an imperative, because if we don't understand our past, we won't be able to see our present clearly, and we will also be deprived from a good perspective regarding our future. As Hobsbwam says, things "can only be understood as part of a particular historical context".

In "The Age of Extremes", Hobsbawm's explains us his idea that the 20th century began in 1914 (with the outbreak of World WarI), and ended in 1991 (with the collapse of the USSR). That is the reason why he calls it "the short century". He divides that "short century" in three parts: an age of catastrophe (from 1914 to the end of World War II), a golden age (1947 - 1973) and the Landslide (1973 - 1991).

Hobsbawm not only delves into politics, but also into economics, technology, and art, all with a profound knowledge of the subject and a caustic wit that I find irresistible.

Yes, of course that there are a lot of history books regarding the 20th century. As a matter of fact, I've read many of them... But this is still my favorite, because it manages to both interesting and clear, entertaining and useful

On the whole, highly recommended :)

Belen Alcat