Revolutionaries [Paperback]

E. J. Hobsbawm (Author), Eric Hobsbawm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

Back in print, groundbreaking essays from "the best known living historian in the world" (The Times, London). "One of the few genuinely great historians of our century" according to the New Republic, Eric Hobsbawm has produced a canon of landmark books—including The Age of Capital, The Age of Revolution, Bandits, and The Age of Extremes—that has both set the standard for radical scholarship and influenced historical thinking across the political spectrum. Now back in print after thirty years, Revolutionaries is vintage Hobsbawm, written masterfully amid one of the century's most intense periods of political and social upheaval, putting those events in historical context. Few observers were as astute as Hobsbawm at probing, criticizing, and clarifying radical movements, whether in Beijing or Berkeley. Ranging from historical investigations into communism to contemporary appraisals of revolutionary movements and meditations on Marxism, Hobsbawm's commentaries are essential guides to ideas and people that changed the face of the twentieth century. Hobsbawm's essays retain a freshness that speaks both to his brilliance as a writer and scholar, as well as to the perennial importance of his subjects. At a time when the very concept of revolution has been largely discredited, these essays remind us of the enduring importance of radical investigations into—and solutions to—society's persistent inequalities and injustices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An unusually rewarding book; almost every item bears witness to Professor Hobsbawm's sharp intelligence and felicitous style. -- Times Literary Supplement

For sheer intelligence, Hobsbawm has no superior in the historical profession. -- The Guardian

About the Author

Long considered one of the foremost historians of the twentieth century, Eric Hobsbawm most recently taught at the New School University in New York. His most recent books include Bandits and On the Edge of the New Century (both from The New Press), and Age of Extremes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565846982
• ISBN-13: 978-1565846982
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,371,846 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:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will, December 3, 2002

By 

John P. Lacny (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionaries (Paperback)

This is a collection of Hobsbawm's essays on the subject(s), originally published at the height of the New Left. It's marked by its sober assessment of the real problems facing those who would remake society, despite (or perhaps because of?) the author's clear sympathies for such a project and for the people who attempted it.

The essay on Vietnam (published in 1965 just as the United States was first committing troops in large numbers), which with dialectical precision lays out the reasons why the defeat of the United States was inevitable, is alone worth the purchase price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hobsbawm essays and reviews, January 9, 2008

By 

M. A. Krul (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionaries (Paperback)

As said above, the book "Revolutionaries" is a collection of mostly book reviews and a few essays by Eric Hobsbawm, written in the 1960s. Written in Hobsbawm's usual accessible and lively style, he considers all sorts of topics related to socialism and revolution. The quality of the reviews/essays varies a bit, but is generally high, and there are a few gems in it. Interesting in particular are his criticism of Hannah Arendt's idealist conception of revolution, his articles on historians and communism, his piece on the May 1968 movement in France, and an essay on "the revolution and sex" (which should really be a book of its own). Less succesful are some pieces on guerrilla war and on Leninism and revisionism. A curious addition is an article on revolution and cities, in which Hobsbawm discusses the oft-remarked, but rarely thoroughly analyzed, relation between city layout and planning on the one hand and the success of riots and insurrections on the other. Nowadays with Marxist influence firmly rooted in the area of social geography as well, there is more work on this, but Hobsbawm's article is a good preview.

On the whole, certainly worth a casual read.