On History [Paperback]

E. J. Hobsbawm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

Few historians have done more to change the way we see the past than Eric Hobsbawm. From his early books on the Industrial Revolution and European empires, to his magnificent study of the "short twentieth century," The Age of Extremes, Hobsbawm has come to be known as one of the finest practitioners of his craft. Available now for the first time in an affordable paperback edition, On History brings together his most important essays on the study and practice of history. Ranging from early considerations of "history from below" and the "progress" of history, to recent debate on the relevance of studying the past, On History is an essential work from one of our preeminent thinkers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Eric Hobsbawm surveys the writings of modern historians with the magisterial gaze of a man who has seen both the rise of Hitler and the fall of Communism. -- New York Times Book Review

Occasion for celebration. -- Library Journal

Thoughtful and knowledgeable... tempered with the sophistication and insights of an erudite and influential historian. -- Los Angeles Times

About the Author

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 well-known author of AGE OF REVOLUTION 1789-1848, THE AGE OF CAPITAL 1848-1875 etc --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565844688
• ISBN-13: 978-1565844681
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest living historian, April 17, 2000

By 

Ivan Stoiljkovic (Kitchener, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On History (Paperback)

If any one historian can be said to have written the history of the last two centuries in its totality, then Eric Hobsbawm would be the name that comes to mind. "On History" is a collection of theoretical essays of one of the greatest practicioners of the craft, and one of the greatest Marxist minds of our century. For anyone interested in practicing the craft of historical materialism and making sense of the contemporary confusion caused by the fall of the Soviet Union, for anyone who is not convinced that we have aproached "the end of history", for anyone with historical mind, willing to look for the logic of change and to consider the past in its entirety, this book is a must read. Hobsbawm's defense of history is powerful and thought-provoking, and his book is of great relevance for today.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, provocative, providing much food for thought, March 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On History (Hardcover)

Another reviewer (above) wrote as follows: "Hobsbawm's reputation may precede him, but his book is a weak, pretentious, and crushingly dry collection of essays that add just the wrong touch of elitism and snobbery to make the whole thing taste sour. The language, syntax, and sentence structure he uses is excruciatingly abstruse, and one suspects that the style he uses hides the fact that his conclusions are all rather a statement of the obvious." Indeed? Who wrote this? Jonathan Yardley (famous for his political animus)? No doubt anyone who uses such phrases as "crushingly dry" (autumn leaves?)and "excruciatingly abstruse" will have a hard time with Hobsbawm's elegantly stated if necessarily complicated thought. If any of his ideas seem "obvious" it is no doubt a result of his influence as one of the major historians of the twentieth century. These essays are learned but never boring (many were written to be read at conferences and I can assure you Hobsbawm's auditors were not put to sleep). Their range is amazing and the issues Hobsbawm takes up--Marxism, Marxist history, the Russian Revolution, barbarism to name a few--remain timely. Of interest to anyone concerned with contemporary history and the history of the modern world.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Inspiring Work, June 30, 2008

By 

A.A. Kierig (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On History (Paperback)

Professor Hobsbawm reminds us why we do academic history. Take this book as part of a broad foundation in Historiography and ignore claims about "snobbery" for if anyone has a "right" to tell us how to do things, it is Hobsbawm.

Also recommended: Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Age of Extremes and Freud for Historians (by Peter Gay).