Book description
These 26 essays range over the history of working men and women between
the late18th century and the present day. They include Hobsbawm's
pioneering studies in labour history and social protest - the formation
of the British workin class, labour custom and traditions, the political
radicalism of 19th century shoemakers, male and female images in
revolutionary movements, the machine-breakers, revolution and sex,
peasants and politics, the rules of violence, the common-sense of Tom
Paine. There are more recent reflections: on the May Day holiday; the
Vietnam War; socialism and the avantgarde; Mario Puzo, the Mafia and the
Sicilian bandit Salvatore Guiliano; and the cultural consequences of
Christopher Columbus. There are tributes to some of jazz's legendary
figures - Count Basie, SidneyBechet and Dike Ellington - anf the tragic
blues-singer Billie Holiday. Eric Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria in
1917 and educated in Vienna, Berlin, London and Cambridge. A
distinguished historian, he is a Fellow of the British Academy and of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, with honorary degrees from
universities in several countries.
