Hobsbawm, Professor Eric J. (1917–)
© Institute of Historical Research
A member of the Communist Party Historians Group, Hobsbawm played a major part in the founding of the seminal journal Past and Present. He is particularly noted for taking a Marxist approach to the production of an extremely popular series of 'total' histories of the modern world.
Listen to an interview with Professor Eric Hobsbawm
- Forenames:
- Eric J.
- Surname:
- Hobsbawm
- Title:
- Professor
- Dates:
- 1917–
- Institutions:
- Communist Party Historians Group (now Socialist History Society)
Past and Present
University of London (Birkbeck College) - Significant posts:
- President, University of London (Birkbeck College)
Professor of History, University of London (Birkbeck College) - Influences:
- Marx, Karl
- Contemporaries:
- Hill, John Edward Christopher
Hilton, Rodney Howard
Kiernan, Victor
Thompson, Edward Palmer - Themes:
- Contemporary history
Economic history
History from below
Labour history
Marxist history
Social history
- Biographies:
- Blackwell Dictionary of Historians
Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing
Interviews with Historians
Bibliography
Significant publications
- Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789–1848 (London, 1962)
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital, 1848–1875 (London, 1975)
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1875–1914 (London, 1987)
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes, 1914–1991 (London, 1994)
Other reading
- Christopher Hill, R. H. Hilton and Eric Hobsbawm, 'Past and Present: origins and early years', Past and Present, 100 (1983), 3–14
David Renton, 'Studying their own nation without insularity? The British Marxist historians reconsidered', Science and Society, 69, 4 (2005), 559–79
