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Interesting Times: A Twentieth-century Life (Lives of the Left) Paperback – May 16, 2005

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 87 ratings

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Eric Hobsbawm has been widely acclaimed as one of the greatest living historians. Called “a lyrical, pungent, and provocative memoir” by Publishers Weekly, Interesting Times offers a personal tour through what Hobsbawm terms “the most extraordinary and terrible century in human history.” The book takes us from his birth in Alexandria, Egypt, and early schooling in Weimar Berlin to his student days as a Cambridge Red and Apostle at King's College. Hobsbawm took E.M. Forster to hear Lenny Bruce, demonstrated with Bertrand Russell against nuclear arms, translated for Che Guevara in Havana, and inaugurated the modern history of banditry. With Interesting Times, we see the making of one of the Left's most important intellectuals, and the history of the twentieth century through the unforgiving eye of one of its most intensely engaged participants.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A remarkable autobiography… Mr. Hosbawm is of that generation of pioneering British cultural historians who united behind a simple belief History should not be written exclusively by and for the winners."
The New York Observer

"Hobsbawm portrays a turbulent world of frontier-crossing and meetings in back rooms in Berlin, of refugees and resistance fighters, Yugoslav partisans and death camp survivors, louche poets and secret agents courageous Communists and squalid betrayals."
The Nation

"The popular people's historian who has influenced our understanding of the previous three centuries like no other."
The Boston Globe

About the Author

Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was born in Egypt in 1917 and educated in Austria, Germany, and England. He taught at Birkbeck College, the University of London, and the New School for Social Research in New York. He is the author of The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes as well as On History, Uncommon People, Industry and Empire, Bandits, On the Edge of the New Century, Revolutionaries, On Empire, Fractured Times, and his memoir Interesting Times (The New Press).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press; Revised ed. edition (May 16, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1565849655
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1565849655
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 1.28 x 9.32 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 87 ratings

About the author

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E. J. Hobsbawm
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Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm CH FRSL FBA (/ˈhɒbz.bɔːm/; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British Marxist historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism, and nationalism. His best-known works include his trilogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875–1914), The Age of Extremes on the short 20th century, and an edited volume that introduced the influential idea of "invented traditions".

Hobsbawm was born in Egypt but spent his childhood mostly in Vienna and Berlin. Following the death of his parents and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler, Hobsbawm moved to London with his adoptive family, then obtained his PhD in history at the University of Cambridge before serving in the Second World War. In 1998 he was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour. He was President of Birkbeck, University of London from 2002 until his death. In 2003 he received the Balzan Prize for European History since 1900 "for his brilliant analysis of the troubled history of twentieth-century Europe and for his ability to combine in-depth historical research with great literary talent."

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Rob Ward (Flickr: HayFestivalA-011.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
87 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book fascinating and well worth reading. They praise the writing quality as wonderful and lively, taking them to interesting times in Germany.

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4 customers mention "Interest"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and well worth reading. They mention it's about fascinating times and wonderful encounters.

"...Still, from the small, though wonderful encounters (such as a night with E.M Forster to see Lenny Bruce) to the massive upheavals of May ’68,..." Read more

"...Both are fascinating and make the book well worth reading...." Read more

"This is a very interesting book, telling the (mainly) intellectual story of a British Jewish boy, growing up in Vienna and Berlin, before going back..." Read more

"Interesting Times...At Least to a Degree..." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality. They find it lively and engaging, taking them to the extraordinary years of Germany in the 1930s. The book is described as well worth reading, though some readers feel it could be a hundred pages too long.

"...With tremendous liveliness he takes us to the extraordinary years of Germany in the 1930s, and reflects on his absolute commitments to building an..." Read more

"Wonderful writing!..." Read more

"...his Marxist convictions, and all the while criticizing USSR... Well worth reading, but maybe a hundred pages too long" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2020
    Thank you Eric. This book is a gift for us. I am sure that you have a lot more to tell. A conversation with you over a cup of coffee would have been wonderful. Rest in peace.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2015
    As "The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress" digital order is realised twice, would you like please make the necessary to cancel it.
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2015
    In many ways the memoirs of a great observer can prove to be more interesting than a great actor or mover of events. Taking an almost godlike view on the immense historical events that constituted this great historian’s life, Eric Hobsbawm takes us on the long journey through his encounter with the twentieth century. Beginning in profound poverty in Vienna, Hobsbawm reveals the many tragedies that accompanied his early childhood, and takes us to his immersion in politics and historical research. With tremendous liveliness he takes us to the extraordinary years of Germany in the 1930s, and reflects on his absolute commitments to building an international communist movement. From Germany to Kings College and beyond, Hobsbawm became perhaps the most devoted, and clearly one of the most knowledgeable historical materialists of recent times. This text accounts the innumerable professional, political, and cultural allegiances that would define his fascinating story. For those looking for a deeper, perhaps more psychological accounting of his own political obduracy in refusing to leave the communist party, readers will perhaps be somewhat disappointed. Still, from the small, though wonderful encounters (such as a night with E.M Forster to see Lenny Bruce) to the massive upheavals of May ’68, Hobsbawm reveals the rich details of a life fully lived, and does so with the empirical attentiveness of that he brought to his research.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2017
    great book
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2004
    Eric Hobsbawn has led a fascinating life and has added enormously to the understanding of the last two centuries withhis brilliant historical mind.
    I enjoyed reading his autobiography, but I found it to be almost humourless and astonishingly free of anecdote. He comes across as an earnest devotee of communism. His wrestling with the failure of communism - both morally and materially - is one of the most engaging features of the book. But I wanted to know the person and person does not seem to appear at all. In truth, it is an extended essay on his life and times, but very little else.
    16 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2016
    A classic.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2016
    Nice
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2004
    I approached Eric's Hobsbawm's autobiography with some relish. His background is truly fascinating and his views often contrary to the mainstream. His long term membership of the British Communist Party certainly places him within a very small group by any measure.
    However, I must admit that I was often disappointed in Hobsbawm's work. There were large sections of pontificating rather than him outlining the so-called interesting times in which he lived. And let there be on mistake, Hobsbawm did live in interesting times. He was born in the year of the Russian Revolution to an Austrian mother and British father who were both Jews in Vienna during the dying days of the Hapsburg Empire. His early education was in Vienna while his later education was in Britain where he ultimately went on to study at Cambridge. Throughout his life, he travelled widely and truly met many interesting people. Thus, my only concern with his book is that his interesting life can sometimes play second fiddle to his opinions. But perhaps this is always the way with historians. They are here to interpret the world and not simply narrate.
    Read Hobsbawm's work for an opinion on the twentieth century but not have expectations that you are going to read a tour de force of the century's movers and shakers.
    10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • A_S
    5.0 out of 5 stars Eric Hobsbawm (1917-2012)
    Reviewed in Germany on November 14, 2017
    If you want to understand both the craft of historiography and history in the making, you should read this well written book by one of the great historians of recent times. It`s much more than a simple memoir of an interesting life, it`s an inspired reflection on profound historical changes as experienced and witnessed by one who lived through most of the twentieth century, and indeed, survived it...
  • Donald Rushton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in Canada on February 4, 2017
    Great book.
  • Amazon Customer
    1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
    Reviewed in India on April 5, 2016
    copy was not good in terms of its condition.....
  • B. Hough
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Book to have on your shelf
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2012
    As a 79 year old and having been on the left of politics, and a jazz fan all my life, this was a very good read. Hobsbawm brought back memories long forgotten. The chapter on Latin America was enlightening, although, he could have spent more time writing about Chile, but perhaps that is just me.
    Europe in the 1930's is brought to life, warts and all. His views on the U.S.A. could surprise some, but nevertheless, an honest man's view of the most dramatic 100 years in the history of the world.
  • 佐藤國雄
    3.0 out of 5 stars 期待外れ
    Reviewed in Japan on August 26, 2015
    マルキストの歴史家として優れた作品が多いので、その自叙伝として大いに期待したがやや表面的ともいえるところが多いので残念である。
    生涯、なぜマルキストのままだったのか等もっと深い洞察がほしかった。