A collection of the author's essays, written over the past thirty years, as lectures, conference papers, book reviews, and contributions to "Festschriften," most of which were previously published in various sources.
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
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Includes bibliographical references (pages 278-290) and index.
CONTENTS NOTE
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Outside and inside history -- The sense of the past -- What can history tell us about contemporary society? -- Looking forward: history and the future -- Has history made progress? -- From social history to the history of society -- Historians and economists: I -- Historians and economists: II -- Partisanship -- What do historians owe to Karl Marx? -- Marx and history -- All peoples have a history -- British history and the Annales: a note -- On the revival of narrative -- Postmodernism in the forest -- On history from below -- The curious history of Europe -- The present as history -- Can we write the history of the Russian Revolution? -- Barbarism: a user's guide -- Identity history is not enough.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
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"Few historians have done more to change the way we see the history of modern times than Eric Hobsbawm. From his early books on the Industrial Revolution and European empires, to his magisterial 1995 study of the "short twentieth century," The Age of Extremes, Hobsbawm has become known as one of the finest practitioners of the craft of writing history." "On History brings together for the first time Hobsbawm's most important writings on the study and practice of history, including several essays published here for the first time. Ranging from early considerations of "history from below" and the "progress" of history, to recent speculations on the relevance of the study of history and the responsibility of the historian, On History reflects Hobsbawm's lifelong concern with the relations between past, present, and future." "A monumental testament to the importance of studying history, On History is an essential work from one of our preeminent thinkers."--Jacket.