Bandits, Revised Edition (Paperback)

~ Eric Hobsbawm (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It seems that almost every country has banditsAsome famous, some notAlaced into its folk history. Hobsbawm's 1969 volume delves into the history of bandits and separates the myths from the facts: Were these men social avengers or just plain criminals? The text is supplemented by numerous pictures of Pancho Villa and other noted desperados from several countries. This is one of the few volumes that covers this subject seriously in great detail.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker

An utterly fascinating book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The; Revised Edition edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565846192
• ISBN-13: 978-1565846197
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,300 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good time telling stories about bandits by the campfire, August 26, 2002

By	Quickhappy "quickhappy" (Big city, big country) - See all my reviews

Not Hobsbawm's deepest work, but a fun one, to be sure. In a quick and lively read, Hobsbawm takes the reader through anecdotes and ballads about "social bandits," a la Robin Hood: bandits with a social conscience, or at least they are remembered that way.

The global scale of such banditry is both interesting (seems like peasants everywhere celebrate the guy who steals from the rich to give to the poor), but ultimately thin. Are bandits generalizable from Brazil to China to the Balkans? Hmmm.

Having read the original _Bandits_ and the new one, I can say that the revised edition is better, as it includes some nice discussion about the political economy of social banditry, and addresses other criticisms lodged by scholars over the years. Now we see bandits in light of power, class, and politics, which helps to make the book a more serious, though still lightweight, contribution to social theory.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, January 3, 2007

By	M. Kerr - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While this book does cover several aspects of banditry, it does not concentrate on one specific geographical area and therefore makes global conclusions. These conclusions are not always accurate, I feel.

7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Quality Stuff by Hobsbawm, as Always, October 6, 2000

By	Fernando Villegas (Santiago de Chile) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is not the last book written by Mr Hobsbawm, but a neccesary and expected reedition of a 60's vintage opus, with some addendas and improvements. As always, high quality is the mark of this reputed scholar. It has been so with every book written by him that I have ever read. Clearly he always has known how to give us, history geeks and scholar alike, crisp writting, deep insight of men and circunstances and the big sociologic picture inside which all get sense, but that never is too far of the little things - if so can be called particular human lives- that give blood to a really good history book. I have never been dissapointed by Mr Hobsbawm and I am sure I never will. Great book, sharp writting, smart understanding.