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A review by alexandrapierce
The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm
I'm not giving this book a rating for a couple of reasons: I didn't read the whole lot, and it wasn't what I was hoping for.
I was hoping for a book to give me a good overview of the bits of the 20th century I need to teach my yr11 course. It didn't do that; not that much on WW1, and little on the early part of the Cold War, although some interesting and useful comments on both. It said nothing about the suffragette movement, which was disappointing, although I guess it didn't fit into his theme of extremes and catastrophes; also didn't have that much about the American/Vietnam War. So I only read a couple of chapters.
I quite liked his style - a bit rambly, and some interesting and challenging ways of looking at events and the long view of history. I'd like to say that this is the sort of book I would go back to, some time... and it would be, if only my TBR pile weren't quite so in danger of toppling and killing someone.
I was hoping for a book to give me a good overview of the bits of the 20th century I need to teach my yr11 course. It didn't do that; not that much on WW1, and little on the early part of the Cold War, although some interesting and useful comments on both. It said nothing about the suffragette movement, which was disappointing, although I guess it didn't fit into his theme of extremes and catastrophes; also didn't have that much about the American/Vietnam War. So I only read a couple of chapters.
I quite liked his style - a bit rambly, and some interesting and challenging ways of looking at events and the long view of history. I'd like to say that this is the sort of book I would go back to, some time... and it would be, if only my TBR pile weren't quite so in danger of toppling and killing someone.