Eric Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria in 1917 and educated in Vienna, Berlin, London and Cambridge. A Fellow of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, with honorary degrees from universities in several countries, he is the author of many important works of history.
Recent years have seen a remarkable growth of interest in revolution and social upheaval. This collection of essays by distinguished historian and long-standing Marxist Eric Hobsbawm is a commentary and critical retrospective on the revolutionary movements and ideas that dominated the twentieth century, and which remain of crucial contemporary relevance. The essays here explore a broad range of related topics including the history of communism, the influence of marxism, insurrection, military coups and guerrilla warfare, and the role of intellectuals. This updated edition presents new thoughts on anti-communist polemics and the Spanish Civil War.
Written with clarity and masterly assurance, Eric Hobsbawm's essays are indispensable for a true understanding both of twentieth-century history and of the pattern of events today.
* Classic essays on revolutionaries from Karl Marx to Che Guevara that could be key to a deeper understanding of today's current affairsThis is a highly readable, lucid and well-written book from which any student of contemporary revolutions can derive a great deal of profitThis is an unusually rewarding book; almost every item bears witness to Professor Hobsbawm's sharp intelligence and felicitous styleThis is an extraordinarily clear-sighted and accessible work of hindsight.
