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The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991 (Paperback)

~ Eric Hobsbawm (Author) "Lines of grey muttering faces, masked with fear, They leave their trenches, going over the top, While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,..." (more)
Key Phrases: guerrilla road, old industrial countries, crisis decades, Latin America, Great Slump, Soviet Union (more...)

3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a vivid chronicle bristling with unorthodox views and fresh insights, British historian Hobsbawm divides the period from the outbreak of WWI to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. into three phases. The "Age of Catastrophe" (1914-47), marked by two world wars, the crumbling of colonial empires, the spread of communism and the near-breakdown of the capitalist system, ended only after the liberal West and the Soviet Union forged a temporary, bizarre alliance to defeat Hitler. Rivalry between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. dominated the ensuing "Golden Age" (1947-73), yet Hobsbawm (emeritus professor at the University of London and professor of politics at Manhattan's New School for Social Research) argues that despite Cold War rhetoric, the superpowers essentially accepted the division of the world and sought long-term peaceful coexistence. The Golden Age's real significance, he maintains, lies in explosive growth of the world economy, technological revolution and, for most of the globe, a social revolution marked by death of the peasantry, mass urbanization, the spread of literacy and the primacy of individualism over traditional constraints. The "Crisis Decades" (1973-present) have brought mass unemployment, severe cyclical slumps and a widening abyss between rich and poor nations. Hobsbawm weaves into his tapestry scientific advances, the decline of both avant-garde and classic high art and the disintegration of social relationships amid rampant individualism. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

British historian Hobsbawm is most noted for his three-volume history of the "long 19th century" (1789-1914). Here he turns his attention to what he terms the "short 20th century" ( 1914-1991), which roughly coincides with his own life. It also corresponds to the lifespan of Soviet Communism, which naturally receives a major share of attention in this account. But Hobsbawm covers ideas more than events in this book, which is international in scope. In a work addressed to "the non-academic reader with a general interest in the modern world," he assimilates mountains of information from all over the century and tries to arrange it into a cohesive whole. The result is certainly not light reading, but it is a book that most libraries will need.
Gary Williams, Southeastern Ohio Regional Lib., Caldwell
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Paperback: 672 pages
Publisher: Vintage (February 13, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0679730052
ISBN-13: 978-0679730057
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#91 in Books > History > World > 20th Century

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Lines of grey muttering faces, masked with fear, They leave their trenches, going over the top, While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists, And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists, Flounders in mud. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
guerrilla road, old industrial countries, crisis decades, global boom

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Latin America, Great Slump, Soviet Union, Age of Empire, New York, Soviet Russia, Middle East, European Community, North America, Great Britain, Red Army, South Korea, South Africa, Nazi Germany, West Germany, German Democratic Republic, Communist International, Hitler's Germany, South-east Asia, Sri Lanka, United Nations, United States, Winston Churchill, Far East, Mao Tse-tung

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 135 books:

Second World War: Closing by Winston Churchill on 8 pages
War, Economy and Society, 1939-1945 (History of the World Economy in the Twentieth Century) by Alan S. Milward in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Bernal: Social Function of Science (Cl by Bernal Jd on page 545, and Back Matter
The State of the World Atlas (Penguin Reference Books.) by Michael Kidron in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Modern Soviet Society by Basile Kerblay in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 135 books this book cites

310 books cite this book:

After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century by Norman Birnbaum on 5 pages
After Progress: American Social Reform and European Socialism in the Twentieth Century by Norman Birnbaum on 5 pages
Seeing Things: Television in an Age of Uncertainty by John Ellis on 4 pages
Perform or Else: From Discipline to Performance by Jon McKenzie on 4 pages
Perform or Else: From Discipline to Performance by Jon McKenzie on 4 pages

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Age of Extremes by Hobsbawm

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	4% buy Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System (Second Edition) 4.5 out of 5 stars (8) $14.45
	3% buy The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 3.9 out of 5 stars (16) $11.53
	3% buy Age of Empire: 1875-1914 3.7 out of 5 stars (7) $10.88

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Customer Reviews

44 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.7 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only clear, but engaging also ..., February 2, 2003

By	Alcat Garcia "aka bel_78 // A.G. is just an a... (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

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I recommend this book to everyone who wishes to understand (or at least begin to do so) the 20th century... In my opinion, that is an imperative, because if we don't understand our past, we won't be able to see our present clearly, and we will also be deprived from a good perspective regarding our future. As Hobsbwam says, things "can only be understood as part of a particular historical context".

In "The Age of Extremes", Hobsbawm's explains us his idea that the 20th century began in 1914 (with the outbreak of World WarI), and ended in 1991 (with the collapse of the USSR). That is the reason why he calls it "the short century". He divides that "short century" in three parts: an age of catastrophe (from 1914 to the end of World War II), a golden age (1947 - 1973) and the Landslide (1973 - 1991).

Hobsbawm not only delves into politics, but also into economics, technology, and art, all with a profound knowledge of the subject and a caustic wit that I find irresistible. Yes, of course that there are a lot of history books regarding the 20th century. As a matter of fact, I've read many of them... But this is still my favorite, because it manages to both interesting and clear, entertaining and useful.

Belen Alcat

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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful overview, March 24, 2000

By	R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This is a really impressive performance by this distinguished historian. Hobsbawm seems to know everything about the 20th century, has actually lived through most of it and writes from the combined perspective of a remarkably accomplished scholar and direct observer of events. Readers should be aware that this book is a sequel to his impressive trilogy on the 19th century, The Age or Revolution, The Age of Capital, and The Age of Empire. In those books, Hobsbawm followed two key themes, the impact of industrial capitalism on European and world history, and the persistence through the 19th century of the revolutionary tradition that begins with the French Revolution. Readers should be aware also that this book is not a convential narrative overview but follows these major themes with considerable analysis. Some readers (see some reviews below) are put off by Hobsbawm's marxian (not the same as Marxist) approach. This approach, however, is a powerful tool for making sense of the complexities of the past century. Hobsbawm is an avowed Marxist but his work is not doctrinaire in any sense. In this book, for example, he remarks that the 19th century really was a century of progress, both material and moral. Not the statement of a doctrinaire leftist. His erudition is remarkable but not showy and employed only as needed to carry forward his narrative and analysis. This book is never boring, always compelling and challenging. The focus of this book is very much on Europe and North America. Hobsbawm is explicitly, unashamedly, and appropriately 'eurocentric' in his emphasis on these regions as the key theatres for the actions of 20th century history. The best overviews of complex historical topics combine narrative with thematic analysis as a way of unifying the narrative. See, for example, Patterson's recent Grand Expectations, an overview of recent American history in which the quest for rights by traditionally disadvantaged groups is treated as a unifying theme of our recent past. The Age of Extremes is a remarkable combination of narration and analysis that illuminates the darkness of the past century.

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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Proves that history is not over, September 11, 2004

By	isala "Isabel and Lars" (Fairbanks, Alaska,, US) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Fukuyama claimed that with the fall of the Eastern Block, history was over. Wrong, says Hobsbavn - only an epoch has ended. The short twentieth century, the age dominated by war. Hobsbavn revolutionised history by refusing to adhere to the somewhat artificial restraint of centuries. Instead he has split up the ninetenth and twentieth centuries in four distinct epochs. And does it work! This was his fourth book on the subject, and it created quite a stir when it came out.
In retrospect it seems obvious to say that up until 1991 we lived in an age that were stillsuffering from the effects of the first world war. Hobsbawn even claims that the first world war did not really end until 1991. Now we have entered an era which is ruled by other historical processes.
Hobsbawn is a socialist, but he does not rub it in, in this book at least. Rather, he, for me at least, comes out as a very clear thinker. He is not stuck in ideology, especially when he praises Ronald Reagan, or the northern European monarchies. His ideas about art during the age of extremes are interesting, but are bound to provoke; are the only operas of note during the twentieth century really just King Ubu and Peter Grimes?

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A 600-page editorial
I won't spend too much time on this review because I don't think it's really worth my time. There's a major contradiction between the title and the introduction that had a... Read more

Published 6 days ago by Chris

2.0 out of 5 stars What Extremes Does Hobsbawm Mean?
Whenever an historian writes of a era that is massively convoluted due to social, technological, racial, and theological stresses, it is wise to look at the general thrust of that... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Martin Asiner

3.0 out of 5 stars When the facts change, Mr Hobsbawm, it's OK to change your mind
I read this book for two reasons: 1) To better understand the Marxist mind, especially in light of the great Marxist defeats (or at minimum, setbacks) of the twentieth century, 2)... Read more

Published on October 25, 2007 by David Flandro

3.0 out of 5 stars A Marxist Historian's Perspective
Eric Hobsbawm provides an interesting though biased overview of what he terms the "Short Twentieth Century. Read more

Published on October 31, 2006 by Levi Kovacs

1.0 out of 5 stars Marxist Propaganda
This book is written by an avowed Marxist, and as such, neglects to mention the horrors of Soviet Russia. Read more

Published on May 1, 2006 by Modernity Sucks

3.0 out of 5 stars Biased, but not useless
I read this book here, in Brazil, some years ago.
At first, this book isn't an unbiased book.The author has marxists believes and he shows this, in this regular book. Read more

Published on April 10, 2006 by Dalton C. Rocha

5.0 out of 5 stars The Age of Historical Insight
Eric Hobsbawm is one of the best historians I have read. I have read his entire series - Age of Revolution, Capital, Empire, and Extremes. Read more

Published on August 28, 2005 by Umesh Vyas

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Well Considered Text
Hobesbawm is the master of looking at history in general terms, extrapolating general trends and terms in a way that are so obvious but generally overlooked by most mainstream... Read more

Published on August 22, 2005 by R. J Szasz

3.0 out of 5 stars Poorly made, excellent text
The book is very poorly made and the pages are already falling out of the binding.

The text itself is excellent and very educational for someone not familiar with... Read more

Published on July 21, 2005 by P. Sexton

4.0 out of 5 stars Lessons Learn't ?
I have just finished Age of Extremes and not being an academic I cannot comment on the accuracy or leanings of the author. Read more

Published on March 9, 2005 by W. Weemes

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