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Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Marxist Historiography!
Review: After the collapse of the Revolutions of 1848, Europe as a whole was pretty quiet until 1914. Economically, however, the period is divided by a serere economic downturn areound 1875. This book covers the first part of this period, when European and American Capitalism grew strong.Since Hobsbawm is a Marxist, he's not much of a fan of this period, but his coverage of it is quite evenhanded and honest. Again, as in the first book, he's challenging to read, but worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: The Golden Age of Capitalism
Review: After the collapse of the Revolutions of 1848, Europe as a whole was pretty quiet until 1914. Economically, however, the period is divided by a serere economic downturn areound 1875. This book covers the first part of this period, when European and American Capitalism grew strong. Since Hobsbawm is a Marxist, he's not much of a fan of this period, but his coverage of it is quite evenhanded and honest. Again, as in the first book, he's challenging to read, but worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: um
Review: name a single European event that happened between 1848 and 1875...quick! My guess is that a lot of non-Europeans would have a hard time with that one. Yet it was an astonishingly influential period, the time when both capitalism and imperialism became truly, irreversibly entrentched. Hobsbawm tells the tale masterfully. Reading the book, it's hard to believe he didn't actually live through this time himself. The book is a superb marriage of narrative with historical detail. Read it. Read all three.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Marxist Historiography!
Review: Um, a few observations are in order. Firstly, Marx's critique of history, economics, and society must not be confused with the later activity of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, nor Ho Chi Min: just because they used Marx as their point of departure does in no way diminish Marx's project. Secondly, Hobsbawm is a Marxist historiographer--not a Marxist per se. Thirdly, the period 1848-75 witnessed some remarkably convulsive and important events: 1) the Crimean War [Britian burned on the Black Sea], 2) the Dano-Prussian War [Prussian victory at Düpple], 3) the Austro-Prussian War [Prussian victory at Sadowa], 4) German unification under Bismarck, and 5) the Franco-Prussian War which resulted in the spectacular German victory at Sedan, the collapse of the Second Empire, the Paris Commune, and the establishment of the Third Republic. Need we say more? Get the book.
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