[lbo-talk] A profoundly glib review of Hobsbawm

[Bill Quimby]

Although I think you would find his memoir, "Interesting Times: A Twentieth Century Life"
a fun read. In addition to explaining his life-long dedication to Communism, he also
writes eloquently about jazz and its influence on his life. And too his description
of being in Paris on the first Bastille Day of the Popular Front period!

Casting about for something to refresh my memories of Hobsbawm reads I found this
excellent review of Interesting Times by Perry Anderson, who evaluates both the memoir
and Hobsbawm's contribution to radical history.

<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v24/n19/perry-anderson/the-age-of-ejh>

- Bill

On 8/19/2011 8:55 PM, Dissenting Wren wrote:
> It's a dreadful review.  (Cook's version - Communism is bad and Hobsbawm doesn't
> think so, therefore Hobsbawm is overrated).
>
> But - I've never really understood the veneration of Hobsbawm.  Say Christopher
> Hill or E.P. Thompson and anyone can identify their core contributions to history
> (the discipline, not the historical process).  But Hobsbawm?  I'll grant you he's
> prolific, but what has he written that's great or fundamental? "The Age of..."
> series - superficial and derivative.  "Primitive Rebels" and "Bandits" - slight
> works that opened up interesting lines of inquiry, but those lines were pursued
> by others.  His work on nationalism - a late entry that did nothing to carry the
> debate forward.  "The Invention of Tradition" was a terrific book, but a
> scholarly reputation is hardly based on co-editing an important volume.  So,
> Hobsbawm - is there any there there?
>