Synopses & Reviews
In there four incisive and keenly perceptive essays, one of out most celebrated and respected historians of modern Europe looks at the world situation and some of the major political problems confronting us at the start of the third millennium.
With his usual measured and brilliant historical perspective, Eric Hobsbawm traces the rise of American hegemony in the twenty-first century. He examines the state of steadily increasing world disorder in the context of rapidly growing inequalities created by rampant free-market globalization. He makes clear that there is no longer a plural power system of states whose relations are governed by common laws--including those for the conduct of war. He scrutinizes America's policies, particularly its use of the threat of terrorism as an excuse for unilateral deployment of its global power. Finally, he discusses the ways in which the current American hegemony differs from the defunct British Empire in its inception, its ideology, and its effects on nations and individuals.
Hobsbawm is particularly astute in assessing the United States' assertion of world hegemony, its denunciation of formerly accepted international conventions, and its launching of wars of aggression when it sees fit. Aside from the naivete and failure that have surrounded most of these imperial campaigns, Hobsbawm points out that foreign values and institutions--including those associated with a democratic government--can rarely be imposed on countries such as Iraq by outside forces unless the conditions exist that make them acceptable and readily adaptable.
Timely and accessible, On Empire is a commanding work of history that should be read by anyone who wants someunderstanding of the turbulent times in which we live.
Review
As close to essential reading as the times allow.THE NEW YORK OBSERVER
The popular peoples historian who has influenced our understanding of the previous three centuries like no other.
THE BOSTON GLOBE
The fact is that no other living historian [before Hobsbawm's death in 2012] of whatever political affiliation has the intellectual firepowerthe range and depth of knowledge, the analytical skill.
NIALL FERGUSON, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
No historian can match his overwhelming command of fact and source. . . . Hobsbawms gift for startling, often seductive generalizations from his material has only grown.
NEAL ASCHERSON, THE INDEPENDENT
Synopsis
From the best-known and most popular historian of modern Europe ("The Independent") comes a keenly perceptive and incisive look at empire and war as they have been transformed in the age of globalization.
Synopsis
"A small volume for igniting big discussions" (Booklist), the renowned historian Eric Hobsbawms
On Empire is a major new intellectual resource for anyone seeking to understand Americas fate in the new millennium.
In four brief chapters encompassing a century of world history, Hobsbawm engages the key questions of our era with his characteristic wit, precision, and historical breadth of knowledge. A startling image of danger and instability emerges as On Empire sketches the tangled relationship between globalization, war, and the prospects for peace in a world that has witnessed uninterrupted military conflict since 1914.
It is against this somber backdrop that Hobsbawm offers his views about why America will never achieve the dominance of past empiresdespite the overwhelming preponderance of U.S. military power in the world. And in a powerful series of historical observations about the war in Iraq, Hobsbawm dismantles every major assumption underlying American military strategy, demonstrating the utter futility of U.S. hopes for victory” in the Middle East.
"Good grounds for heated discussion about Americas role in the world" (Kirkus Reviews), On Empire is a brilliant new intellectual volley from our greatest living historian” (The New York Review of Books).
About the Author
Eric Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria in 1917 and educated in Austria, Germany and England. He taught at Birkbeck College, University of London, and then at the New School for Social Research in New York. In addition to
The Age of Revolution,
The Age of Capital,
The Age of Empire and
The Age of Extremes, his books include
Bandits,
Revolutionaries,
Uncommon People, and his memoir
Interesting Times. Eric Hobsbawm died in 2012.