Age Of Extremes
Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Extremes: The short twentieth Century 1914-1991: 1995: Abacus, London. The Age of Extremes: The short twentieth Century 1914-1991 provides a succinct review of the middle three quarters of the 20th century. The book trails world history from the outbreak of World War I to the collapse of the Soviet Union & explicitly witnesses author’s profound interest for the world history. The Author Eric Hobsbawm, (1917 – 2012) was a British Marxist historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism, and nationalism. His best-known works include his trilogy about the long 19th century (The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875–1914), The Age of Extremes on
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Despite the rising Cold War, author sees the years 1950-1970 as the golden period of the twentieth century. The two most important aspects of this age of relative prosperity were the death of the peasantry and the rise of urbanization. This phenomenon occurred in both capitalist & communist countries and contributed to both rising living standards and the growing importance of the individual over collective bodies like church. During this period the focus shifts towards the large Cultural Revolution which also created a growing importance on higher education. As a result, a new youth culture began to assert itself through new types of media such as radio and television. In the industrial sector too the new developing technology produced more jobs which contributed to yearly incomes that rose gradually throughout this twenty year period.
By 1970, however, this age of prosperity gave way to what author labeled ‘The Landslide’. As authors acknowledged it in the volume that “the history of the twenty years after 1973 is that of a world which lost its bearings and slid into stability and crisis”. In capitalist countries, the creation of new jobs could no longer keep pace with those that were eradicated by the technological explosion. In the communist economies, the USSR was slowly losing its grip on its dominions and Hobsbawm places the blame for the ultimate fall of the USSR on its own internal
Despite the rising Cold War, author sees the years 1950-1970 as the golden period of the twentieth century. The two most important aspects of this age of relative prosperity were the death of the peasantry and the rise of urbanization. This phenomenon occurred in both capitalist & communist countries and contributed to both rising living standards and the growing importance of the individual over collective bodies like church. During this period the focus shifts towards the large Cultural Revolution which also created a growing importance on higher education. As a result, a new youth culture began to assert itself through new types of media such as radio and television. In the industrial sector too the new developing technology produced more jobs which contributed to yearly incomes that rose gradually throughout this twenty year period.
By 1970, however, this age of prosperity gave way to what author labeled ‘The Landslide’. As authors acknowledged it in the volume that “the history of the twenty years after 1973 is that of a world which lost its bearings and slid into stability and crisis”. In capitalist countries, the creation of new jobs could no longer keep pace with those that were eradicated by the technological explosion. In the communist economies, the USSR was slowly losing its grip on its dominions and Hobsbawm places the blame for the ultimate fall of the USSR on its own internal