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The Life of a Revolutionary Historian
by Emile Chabal
An intellectual biography of Eric Hobsbawm, one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century.
Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was one of the foremost European intellectuals of the twentieth century. He published hundreds of articles on modern history and culture, and his books became canonical works and bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. His crystal-clear writing, vast erudition, and ability to make his Marxist analysis digestible to a wide audience brought him worldwide renown.
Yet Hobsbawm was no academic hermit. Through his globetrotting journalism, he was embedded in an extraordinary web of politicians, activists, and fellow intellectuals across Europe, South Asia, and the Americas, including Manmohan Singh, Che Guevara, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernand Braudel, E. P. Thompson, Arno Mayer, and Salvador Allende. Emile Chabal traces the origins of Hobsbawm's ideas and most famous writings by exploring his scholarly foundations, delving deep into the archives to uncover hidden links and unexpected conversations that shaped his pathbreaking work.
Going well beyond the Ages series of modern history books for which Hobsbawm is best known, Chabal offers the first substantial interpretation of Hobsbawm's entire body of writing. Indeed, The Age of Hobsbawm is also a trove of unique insights into the generations of Marxist writers with whom Hobsbawm was in conversation―authors whose work continues to shape political debates globally.
"An enthralling intellectual biography of 'communist polymath' and historian Eric Hobsbawm…Throughout, Chabal uses Hobsbawm's work to ruminate on history-making and 'the hidden structures that support... ideas.' It's a remarkably illuminating portrait of the man, his times, and his discipline." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Chabal's erudite intellectual biography traces Hobsbawm's career from his earliest involvement with left-wing movements…to his emergence as a widely read historian, professor, and intellectual…This is a thoughtful study of one of the 20th century's most influential academics." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"At a time when historical research and teaching are under attack, Emile Chabal's careful reconstruction of the life of one of the century's greatest historians is both a major scholarly and an ethical act. Chabal offers a reckoning with Hobsbawm's analytical successes and missteps from India to Latin America in addition to an ethnography of the historian's craft. A love letter to the discipline as practiced at its highest level." ―Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists and Hayek's Bastards
"The Age of Hobsbawm is something rare and special, a proper historical study of the ideas of a British historian. By placing Hobsbawm firmly not only in his times but in his many particular contexts―whether British, European, or global communism, elite higher education, or journalism―this book superbly enriches our understanding of his work and life." ―David Edgerton, author of The Rise and Fall of the British Nation
This information about The Age of Hobsbawm was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Emile Chabal is Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Edinburgh. He has authored and edited several books, including A Divided Republic: Nation, State, and Citizenship in Contemporary France and States of Ignorance: Governing Irregular Migrants in Western Europe. His writing has appeared in such publications as Foreign Policy, The Hindu, the Times Literary Supplement, Jacobin, and Libération.
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