About the Author

Eric Hobsbawm (1917-2012) was born in Egypt in 1917 and educated in Austria, Germany, and England. He taught at Birkbeck College, the University of London, and the New School for Social Research in New York. He is the author of The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes as well as On History, Uncommon People, Industry and Empire, Bandits, On the Edge of the New Century, Revolutionaries, On Empire, Fractured Times, and his memoir Interesting Times (The New Press).

Reviews

"An utterly fascinating book."
-THE NEW YORKER "A wise as well as exciting book; a very valuable addition to the history of mentalities and to that of popular protest... This is human history at its very best."
-THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT [London] "A dazzling historical squib, fizzing with ideas and strange stories."
-THE GUARDIAN "In an age of narrow specialists, Eric Hobsbawm remains the supreme generalist... For sheer intelligence he has no superior in the historical profession."
-SIR KEITH THOMAS