An intellectual biography of Eric Hobsbawm, one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century.

Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was one of the foremost European intellectuals of the twentieth century. He published hundreds of articles on modern history and culture, and his books became canonical works and bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. His crystal-clear writing, vast erudition, and ability to make his Marxist analysis digestible to a wide audience brought him worldwide renown.

Yet Hobsbawm was no academic hermit. Through his globetrotting journalism, he was embedded in an extraordinary web of politicians, activists, and fellow intellectuals across Europe, South Asia, and the Americas, including Manmohan Singh, Che Guevara, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Fernand Braudel, E. P. Thompson, Arno Mayer, and Salvador Allende. Emile Chabal traces the origins of Hobsbawm’s ideas and most famous writings by exploring his scholarly foundations, delving deep into the archives to uncover hidden links and unexpected conversations that shaped his pathbreaking work.

Going well beyond the Ages series of modern history books for which Hobsbawm is best known, Chabal offers the first substantial interpretation of Hobsbawm’s entire body of writing. Indeed, The Age of Hobsbawm is also a trove of unique insights into the generations of Marxist writers with whom Hobsbawm was in conversation—authors whose work continues to shape political debates globally.

"Extremely readable, [this] book is a fascinating critical portrait…Chabal’s biography offers a balanced and critical portrait of a great historian whose life and thought were deeply intertwined with his century." - Ideas Letter

"Chabal’s biography emulates its subject, in the clarity of its prose and its avoidance of jargon… Any competent biographer would place an intellectual in his or her intellectual milieu, as Chabal does well." - New Statesman

"Chabal shifts the focus to the ‘intellectual worker’ and to the complex web of institutional, publishing and political networks that made possible [Hobsbawm’s] success – and, indeed, his legendary status." - La Stampa

"Superb…For Chabal, Hobsbawm was what the French would call an ‘intellectual engagé’: a committed intellectual. He was, Chabal writes, ‘a communist, and, from the age of about fourteen, communism acted as the guiding thread for his life and work’. Unless we understand this fundamental aspect of his life, we will not be able to appreciate either Hobsbawm’s work or what endures of his contemporary appeal." - Unherd

"[Chabal] charts Hobsbawm’s intellectual journey and staggering commercial success as a Marxist historian… his biography is based on prodigious research and profound knowledge of twentieth-century history and left-wing politics...Chabal’s meticulous reconstruction of [Hobsbawm's] intellectual journey is both a fitting recognition of that journey and scholarship of the highest level." - Australian Book Review

"Chabal’s main focus is on the public man…[He] subjects Hobsbawm’s career and reputation to a careful analysis that is enlivened by a dry scepticism." - Literary Review

"Ultimately, Chabal captures the tragedy of a historian incapable of confronting his own. Meticulously researched, this brilliant biography will undoubtedly tempt you to read Hobsbawm for yourself." - Indian Express

"An enthralling intellectual biography of 'communist polymath' and historian Eric Hobsbawm…Throughout, Chabal uses Hobsbawm’s work to ruminate on history-making and ‘the hidden structures that support... ideas.’ It’s a remarkably illuminating portrait of the man, his times, and his discipline." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Chabal’s erudite intellectual biography traces Hobsbawm’s career from his earliest involvement with left-wing movements…to his emergence as a widely read historian, professor, and intellectual…This is a thoughtful study of one of the 20th century’s most influential academics." - Library Journal (starred review)