tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post851620446877812278..comments2024-03-28T22:32:50.562+00:00Comments on Liberal England: Eric Hobsbawm does not deserve the praise he has received todayJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-70628650246638077462012-10-03T12:52:17.802+01:002012-10-03T12:52:17.802+01:00A conversation between Eric Hobsbawm and Alexander...A conversation between Eric Hobsbawm and Alexander Solzhenitsyn might have been interesting. It was from the Estonian lawyer Arnold Susi, with whom Solzhenitsyn shared a cattle truck on their way to the Gulag, that he began to understand how loathed the Soviet Empire was in the Baltic States. I imagine there are no Baltic historians with any regard for the late Mr Hobsbawm.Domingo BarĂ³nnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-11765584209592777822012-10-02T08:50:01.462+01:002012-10-02T08:50:01.462+01:00Hear, hear!Hear, hear!callmemadamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00359300308013419608noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-43411654734725586212012-10-02T05:16:03.110+01:002012-10-02T05:16:03.110+01:00The End of the Last Man of History?The End of the Last Man of History?Manfaranghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16672026288937285646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-39723284005888108192012-10-02T00:03:15.857+01:002012-10-02T00:03:15.857+01:00I have to say, I disagree.
Fine, his politics st...I have to say, I disagree. <br /><br />Fine, his politics stink. But I remember reading his work as an undergraduate - to me he is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, representative of an historical tradition. One of the important things we've learned in the last fifty years is that there is no one history, that history can be seen in many different ways. The Marxists, as some of the first to challenge the Whig school, were part of what made that possible. <br /><br />Of course, almost no-one writes Marxist history any more, because the world has moved on - now we claim not to be ideological, though of course we are. Marxist history at least was honest about it (ditto Whig history). <br /><br />So for me, Hobsbawm's death is like closing the chapter on a school of history, and while I wouldn't say I regret it, I'm glad that it existed - and for that, it's worth praising Hobsbawm, even if you don't agree with him.Lorgyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13512821963437870871noreply@blogger.com