book data
237 ratings,
3.99
average rating, 25 reviews
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published
February 13th 1996
(first published 1994)
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 672 pages
isbn
0679730052
(isbn13: 9780679730057)
description
Dividing the century into the Age of Catastrophe, 1914-1950, the Golden Age, 1950-1973, and the Landslide, 1973-1991, Hobsbawm marshals a vast array o...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 408)
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avg 3.99
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in May, 2009
The business of historians, Hobsbawm reminds us, is to remember what others forget, a task carrying much more weight in a world where contemporary experience is persistently present and lacking any organic relation (goodreads, hello?) to the public past of our times.
This book, as proof of the above point, is my first and urgently needed reading of a concise history of the Twentieth Century. Hobsbawm's Maxist position is most obviously apparent not from the balance of his argum...more
This book, as proof of the above point, is my first and urgently needed reading of a concise history of the Twentieth Century. Hobsbawm's Maxist position is most obviously apparent not from the balance of his argum...more
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Read in August, 2008
I found this book extremely difficult to read. Hobsbawm was born in Egypt to Viennese parents who spoke English in the home, and his syntax seems to have been permanently ruined by the experience. For example, what are we to make of this sentance? For if divorce, illegitimate, births and the rise of the single-parent (i.e. overwhelmingly the single-mother) household indicated a crisis in the relation between the sexes, the rise of a specific, and extraordinarily powerful youth culture indica...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for:
Finley, Brandon
I'm not quite done with it yet (150 or so pages left) so take my review with a grain of salt. Mr. Hobsbawm's analysis of the "Short Twentieth Century" does, I think, bear up. At no point in the book does he fail to mention his own biases or does he take a particular side. Mr. Hobsbawm, however, does not pull any punches in his criticism of Western (US) Imperialism up to and through the 80s. The text is well sourced and easily read even if the style is academic and not polemic. One nega...more
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Read in June, 2008
the chapters unfurl; the scope of this book is painfully good to explore. even when hobsbawn zeroes in on case studies, he chases down each detail so thoroughly that the causes and effects branch out to include the entire planet. i've only been reading this out of its series of four, but i'm going to do the whole set. too bad i've been falling asleep reading this one. fml
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04/20/09
Drew
is currently reading it
Gotta hone my chops for teaching the last few units of 11th grade US History this Spring.
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02/27/09
Michal
added it
historoical stuff....quite good analysis with subjective notion of Mr. Hobsbawm
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A pretty good social examination of the history of the world since WWI.
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Read in November, 2008
This was fascinating if somewhat a difficult read. My head's swimming, and it's hard to discern overall themes on the first pass, but it's a good, and very interesting approach, to the history of the period from 1914-1994. Hobsbawm attempts to explain the why of the events in this Short Twentieth Century, and -- given his perspective -- succeeds pretty well at it. I'll be reading others in this series, though I'm going to need a break first..
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Read in October, 2008
Good to read on a bus while crossing Europe on a whirlwind tour. Hitler was a master planner, I can hardly fit everything into one rucksack, never mind coordinate an army.
Had this book for ten years, was able tomake smug yet confident conversation about obscure facts whiletravelling through the back waters of Europe. Example: 'Stalin was 5'3", you know.'
Had this book for ten years, was able tomake smug yet confident conversation about obscure facts whiletravelling through the back waters of Europe. Example: 'Stalin was 5'3", you know.'
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09/12/08
Andrew
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Read in September, 2008
Hobsbawm is a gifted writer, and it's nice to have a Marxist (or possibly post-Marxist, depending on your definitions) stance on our troubled 20th Century. Unlike the pedantic textbooks you've encountered, and even unlike the politicized history of someone like Zinn, Hobsbawm is awfully good at addressing the cumulative bullshit of our society.
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Read in September, 2007
It was a good read. A general history, and the first one I've read by Habsbawm in which his Marxism wasn't the predominant feature in determining the story the book tells. Very interesting, especially his structuring of how history changed in the 1970s. Overall, I'd recommend it.
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Ah, Hobsbawm. A king among historians. This isn't his best volume, as he really doesn't pay due attention to stuff like the Holocaust, but it's still the second best book-length treatment of the 20th century as a whole that I've read (the best being Kolko's "Century of War").
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Read in January, 2007
A fascinating survey of the Short Twentieth Century in crisp, sinuous prose. Hobsbawm is a (Marxist) nineteenth-century historian, so it's interesting to see him leave his period and watch the civilization he knows so well fly over the rails.
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An excellent survey of (most of) the last century. Very readable. The author's prejudices shine through occasionally, but it's still the most accessible and far reaching volume I've read on such a vast subject.
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unflinching and unrepentant left history of the 20th century. Doesn't sugarcoat the bad news about capitalism's staying power but doesn't buy the bullshit that "there is no alternative" either
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recommends it for:
history buffs, the general public
Wow! It is amazing how little you can know about the world in which you live and still get by fairly well. This book is a great educational tool and I would argue an essential one.
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It may be a good history book, but I just can't handle the anxiety of reading about all that war and conflict.
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Read in January, 2000
Solid, engaging and readable...a light from the past to guide moving into the future even in world so different.
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Its useful but I find it difficult to maneuver my edition of it and thus I grow too irritated to read.
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Read in September, 2007
wonderful marxist account of world history (er, western european) wwi onward.
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