History – 380 pages – my copy (paperback) bought from a Totnes bookshop sometime in 2007 and recently read in June 2012
#50 of 2011-12 / #171 of All Time
- 4 nods out of 5 -
At the grand age of ninety-five and with a great wealth of books behind him, Eric Hobsbawm is one of the world’s greatest living historians. Famous for his long held Marxist beliefs, as well as a tremendous series in world history (notably The Age of Revolution and The Age of Extremes, reviewed in this very blog two years ago), Hobsbawm’s great span of life itself has taken in many historical events of the past century: the rise and fall of the Nazis; the battle between the American and Soviet ideologies; the fall of Communism; the growth of terrorism; and the constant see-saw between boom and bust of the world economy.
It is fitting, then, for a historian well versed in history to publish a book on his thoughts on the subject of history. And so we have On History, a collection of essays gathered over a series of years and put into a collection in the 1990s. A dream come true, you may say, for a history buff. Let’s be clear, many articles have the power to send less enthused fans of history to sleep; most of these surround the question of economics, how historians can interpret and predict future economic events, as well as a dangerously high dose of Marxism. But with twenty-one essays on display, there is more than enough to compensate. These include Hobsbawm’s musings on how we picture the past (‘The Sense of the Past’), history’s role in helping society solve problems (‘What Can History Tell Us about Contemporary Society?’), on the commitment and bias of the historian (‘Partisanship’), interesting and enlightening commentary on the continent of Europe (‘The Curious History of Europe’), as well as a splendid and convincing debate about the possible of descent of “civilisation” into chaos (‘Barbarism: A User’s Guide’).
So, what snippets can the Worm glean from On History? In the space of 380 marked and poured over pages are debates on the key issues in history writing, including that on its abuses by present regimes misrepresenting the past in order to secure more support from the public (‘Outside and Inside History’). Later in the book, Hobsbawm writes: ‘History as inspiration and ideology has a built-in tendency to become self-justifying myth. Nothing is a more dangerous blindfold than this, as the history of modern nations and nationalisms demonstrates’. In a different essay, he comments: ‘history is a useful warning against confusing fashion with progress’. These are words of advice that would be well heeded by today’s society. Perhaps less than history, and more about philosophy of history: of change, of the past, the future, the present and how we represent all of these things in a bundle of paper for general readership. Hobsbawm is always searching to explain how mankind built society, how our civilisation became what it is, and how change will affect what we have.
For students, teachers and serious readers of history, this is a highly recommended read. This book, like so many other good books, offers a chance to pick the brains of one of the best in his field. You may turn your nose at this offering; but respect for Hobsbawm is universal.
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-History-E-J-Hobsbawm/dp/0349110506
